Kyuubi
by EndoplasmicPanda
Summary: An accident occurred during Naruto's training sabbatical. Now, he's stuck in his own body - forced to see the world through the eyes of the very fox he had tried to distance himself from. After being abandoned by the world, what will this new Nine-Tails do? Rated M for violence and occasional language. DISCONTINUED; succeeded by "Of Crimson and Shadows"!
1. Chapter 1: The Akatsuki Strikes

_*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*_

* * *

 _ **Transformation**_ **Arc:**

 **Chapter 1 - The Akatsuki Strikes**

* * *

Just a general warning: this was my first attempt at writing anything (and I mean _anythin_ g _)_ worth shaking a stick at. And even then... I'm still skeptical, haha. Kyuubi was my pipe dream - the story I hadn't seen on FFN before, and wanted to see desperately. Sadly, I don't think I did it justice - the last few chapters I still enjoy immensely, but I definitely think I can do exponentially better overall.

So, with that in mind, a rewrite is in the works! The general idea behind Kyuubi \- essentially, the 'thing' that sets this apart from other fanfictions - is still something I _really_ want to see done: it's my baby. And now that I have a solid six months of writing experience under my belt, I plan to do just that. It _is_ taking me a while, because I have other obligations at the moment, but it'll get there eventually. And I want to do it right.

I don't mean to scare you off - I still think this story is entertaining enough as it stands now. But is it on par with the rest of my work? Probably not. So if you came here because you liked one of my other projects and wanted to read more (...first of all, wow - thank you!), then you might be a little disappointed. Still! It's a symbol of my progression, showing I am advancing, however slowly, towards a better handle on the written word. I developed my style here, learned a TON, and can say I'm better for it in the end. And for that reason and that reason alone, I am immensely proud of this story.

So, without further ado, I present to you: Kyuubi.

* * *

The Village Hidden in the Leaves.

The military capital of the most powerful nation in the world – the Land of Fire.

Born from peace, flourishing in war, and rebounding from tragedy after tragedy. The world was cruel to the way of the shinobi; and, by association, cruel to the Leaf.

Inner turmoil, outer turmoil…

…environmental turmoil.

Turmoil that stood the test of time, even after countless societal victories.

In the beginning, there was Madara Uchiha. Then, there was the triumvirate of despicable shinobi wars. Then, there was the Nine-Tails attack. Then, there was the Uchiha massacre. Then, there was the Konoha Crush.

And then…

Tsunade sighed and closed her eyes, breaking her chain of thought at the base, forcing it to come crashing down to the depths of despondency and despair that was her inner being. With a manicured hand, she ran her hair back across her neck and out of her face as she leaned forward in her desk chair and began her daily work.

It was no surprise that the village's strife became her own once she became the Fifth Hokage. Her old sensei and father figure, Hiruzen Sarutobi, always said as much. Then again, he had held the job for decades – nearly as long as she had been alive. To say that the man wasn't influential in the development of the Leaf into the superpower that it was today would be slanderous to the name of the God of Shinobi himself.

Despite her inner doubts, she had accepted the job at the news of the Third's passing, nearly three and a half years prior.

Granted, it took some convincing from a pair of rather… _troublesome_ shinobi. A pair that had become a rather insufferable thorn in her side the instant she laid her eyes upon them in that dusty old bar in the boonies of the Land of Fire. There they found her drinking away her troubles, and living a life of selfish indulgence in an attempt to drown out the voice in the back of her head that loudly criticized her and her actions.

She had loudly (and drunkenly) announced that the job of village leader was a fool's errand, and quickly found herself at the receiving end of a rather vivacious blonde's glare.

Her pen stopped its robotic movement across the signature line of the document she was currently traipsing through, held in an iron grip that shook and quaked like the flood of emotions that just ran through her mind.

"Fuck this," she spat to no one in particular, and propelled the helpless pen across the room – where it embedded itself rather explosively into the door of her office. She threw her chair back in a violent frenzy, her heeled sandals _click-clacking_ at the regained contact with the floor. With one sweeping movement, the bottom right drawer in her desk flew open, revealing a tall beige bottle and another stack of ever-ubiquitous paper.

The bottle's top was tossed aside with a quickness not seen since the Fourth, and Tsunade's red-tinted lips were already working their way through the first half of the liquid when she arrived at the far window of her office.

She grimaced; primarily because of the taste of the sake as it worked its way down her throat, but also because of the disheveled woman that stared back at her through the faint reflection in the sweeping glass.

Long, blond hair was frazzled and askew. Deep, dark bags under her eyes gave away just how little sleep she had gotten the previous night. Her skin was pale and lifeless – a stark contrast to the vibrant red lipstick she had slammed across her face before stumbling down the street in a pre-dawn haze to get to work.

She crossed her arms across her chest, bottle held gingerly in her right hand, and sighed again. Her outfit, the same thing she wore every day, was the same from yesterday – the food stain on her pale grey sleeveless blouse, and the subtle rip that ran down her forest green haori on the right side were evidence enough. She scowled and fumbled with it absentmindedly as her eyes glossed over, vision now focused on the village center below her.

The early morning rays of sunshine were beginning to peek over the tops of the massive forest that girdled the village, casting massive shadows across the streets and buildings in a conquering darkness. Still, despite the lack of sunlight and the brisk chill that hung in the early autumn air, villagers were beginning to stir along the gravel pathways and go about their daily business. Shopkeepers were assembling their merchandise along the city streets, carpenters were gathering their supplies and materials to begin their construction work, shinobi were beginning to trickle out of the darkness sleepily and approach the Hokage Tower for their day's missions.

And then, like the violently beautiful opening of a symphony, sunlight exploded across the Leaf, basking Tsunade in a warm and bright glow.

She flinched and growled, covering her hungover eyes with her bottle-wielding hand.

With another effervescent chug, Tsunade polished off the bottle and gracelessly allowed it to drop from her fingertips onto the wooden floor with a rattling crash.

Her eyes shifted to the massive monument that ran across the left half of the window on their own accord, much to her displeasure. The figures of her late grandfather and granduncle, as well as her sensei, stared back at her unmovingly, as if to mock her meager troubles. She shook her head in an attempt to force their judging faces out of her mind, but that only served to exasperate her steadily growing headache. She groaned in displeasure, before collapsing against the windowframe behind her desk and looking off at the front of her office, rubbing her temples tenderly.

The pen was still stuck through the door unwaveringly, and splintered bits of wood from the impact crater littered the surrounding floor. A few small paintings of nothing too sentimental in particular lined the walls, and a decent sized bookshelf was leaned up against the beige wall to her left.

As she began to right herself once again and head out of her office in search of more alcohol, a soft tapping echoed through the quiet office.

With a confused scowl, Tsunade turned on her heels towards the source of the strange sound, and was greeted by a small dark shadow dancing across the glass, obscured by the rays of the sun as they blitzed past and into the bowels of her workplace.

"What now…" she grumbled as she took the steps necessary to make her way to the window. With an exasperated sigh, she fumbled with the window's latch until it unclasped, and the large brown messenger hawk hopped through the opening, eager to deliver its playload.

Tsunade shook her head as she opened the small container attached to the predator's leg, and removed its contents – a small scroll. "Why the hell don't these damn things ever go to the messenger tower first, instead of here," she mumbled under her breath, as she made her way back over to her desk, ignoring the bird's hungry and questioning gaze.

With a small _plop_ , she slammed back into her office chair with the grace of someone much less sophisticated than herself, and unraveled the scroll with a massive yawn.

The Hokage's eyes began to graze through the kanji, one by one, soaking in the information.

Her eyes shot open, mouth still open from her instantly-stopped yawn. The scroll clattered to the ground from between her outstretched fingers, glancing off the side of her desk as it fell.

"Oh no…"

* * *

"What do you mean the Kazekage has been captured?!" gaped Sakura. "Gaara's missing?"

The pink-haired kunoichi ran her fingers through her hair as she took a step back, head shaking all the while. "That's impossible! Gaara is… well, Gaara! He wouldn't let something like that happen!"

A single slate-grey eye followed her as she began to pace around the crowded office. "You know as well as I do, Sakura, that Gaara is powerful but not unstoppable." Kakashi turned his shrouded head back towards the Hokage's desk, where Tsunade sat, unmoving. He nonchalantly adjusted his forest green jounin flak jacket across his chest, then returned to his trademark slumped posture, hands barely attempting to nestle themselves in the black pockets of his shinobi pants. "I take it there is more information, Lady Tsunade?"

"Hn," she grunted in affirmation, steepling her fingers atop her workspace, disregarding the plethora of paper that was beginning to pile up just from an hour or so of her ignoring it. "According to the message, he was taken by a pair of… interesting men." She turned and looked Kakashi right in the eye. "They said that the men wore matching black cloaks with red clouds on them." She smirked humorlessly and turned her attention to another man in the room. "Sound familiar?"

"Indeed," replied Gai with a frown. "Akatsuki."

Tsunade only nodded with a frown of her own. "So it would seem."

"Sensei," a tall, black-haired boy inquired from the back of the room. His cream-colored kimono shined almost as brightly as his pale white skin and emotionless steel eyes. "Do you know of these Akatsuki?"

Gai frowned, his ridiculously large eyebrows flickering in anxiety, as he looked apprehensively at the Hokage before him. She sighed and nodded. "We might as well tell them, if you are going to be going after Gaara." With a subtle motion, she flicked through the stack of papers to her right and retrieved a small yellow folder stamped "TOP SECRET" across the top in big, red kanji. She tossed it down on the table before her, and it split open like a cracked egg, revealing a multitude of grainy photographs, mission reports, and other things.

"For the last three months," Gai began with an air of seriousness about him that was quite out of character for him, "I have been assigned on several extended S-ranked espionage and reconnaissance missions throughout the northern part of the Land of Fire. My target," he paused as he began to walk across the room with his arms crossed over his green spandex-clad chest. When he arrived at Tsunade's desk, he plucked the picture she was holding out for him, and turned to show it to his students, "has been the organization known as the Akatsuki."

Neji narrowed his pupilless eyes as he observed the photograph with slight curiosity. His teammate and rival, a boy that looked to be the spitting image of their sensei – down to the black, bowl-cut hair and everything, ogled at it from beside him. "I see. This is why we have been partaking in much more… individual training than usual."

"Indeed," Gai said with a small smile. "I have asked Kakashi to observe your work effort and he has told me that you three are doing a most splendid job!" One thumbs-up and cheeky grin later, he was back to business.

Before returning the photograph to the file it came from, he gave it another once-over himself. Two fuzzy figures were seen walking down a gravel pathway in what looked to be the forests to the north. One was tall and muscular, with a large bandaged object slung over his shoulder. The other was also tall – albeit not quite as much – and rather lanky looking. They both had jet-black hair that peeked over their large-collared black cloaks – the taller one with a more modest cut, the other with a long, silky ponytail that ran down the back of his neck and over the back of his robes.

And then, there were the red clouds, peeking through the ink of the photograph like spilled blood. They speckled across the black cloaks almost haphazardly, but with a sense of organized chaos. They were disturbingly beautiful.

Shaking his head, Gai turned and placed the photograph back in the folder, which Tsunade snapped shut immediately and stuck in one of the endlessly-stuffed drawers of her desk.

"The Akatsuki," she began, "are an organization of S-class missing-nin from villages all across the Elemental Nations. They've been increasingly active the past few years, to the point where they are coming out of their nests in the ground regularly to stir trouble among the 'Big 5'." She sighed, and crossed her arms in front of her as she leaned back in her chair, observing the congregation of shinobi before her.

There was Kakashi and Gai to the left, each wearing expressions of boredom and determination, respectively. The tall, silver-haired shinobi raised an eyebrow at her sweeping gaze, before pulling out a small orange book and indulging himself. His mouth and most of his nose were covered completely by a black, cloth facemask, and his left eye was obscured from view by his Leaf headband, which was tilted off-center on his forehead.

Gai, on the other hand, was a much more bombastic individual than his self-proclaimed "eternal rival". He wore a vibrant green unitard that ran across his body like a sickness, and was covered abruptly from his knees down by neon orange legwarmers that bunched up at his ankles. A traditional green jounin jacket across his chest dulled the visual pain significantly, slightly blocking the view of the Leaf headband that was wrapped around his waist like a belt. He was still definitely… something, that much was certain.

Down the line was Neji Hyuuga, a prodigy in his own right and the first among his graduating class to be promoted to full jounin. He watched her intently as well, arms gracefully at his side, ready to go at a moment's notice.

And then there was Lee. Lee was like the spitting image of his sensei – for good reason. The boy had taken Gai on as a surrogate father, a role that the taijutsu master had readily accepted and flourished in. To show the pride he had for himself and his adopted guardian, Lee wore a matching green spandex outfit and flak jacket. He additionally wore a series of bandages across his lower arms and over his hands, leaving only the very tips of his fingers exposed. But the most prominent feature of the taijutsu prodigy was his eyes – they were round and bowl-shaped, girdled by eyebrows so massive in size they gave Gai's a run for their money. His hair was cut in exactly the same way and shape as his sensei's as well, and he, too, bore a determined and excited glean in his eyes.

Sakura stood a good deal away from Lee, closer to Tsunade's desk than the rest. Her pink shoulder-length hair was frazzled and askew, indicating that she ran here immediately upon receiving her summons. A vibrant red-pink jacket was zipped up her front, matched with a pair of skin-tight ash grey shinobi shorts that held her medical supplies and a small tantou on her right hip. She was still pacing back and forth, a speculative look on her face all the while.

And finally, Hinata – the heiress to the mighty Hyuuga clan. She was standing uncertainly to the side, not facing anyone in particular, and held her hands together at her waist in worry and fear – fear for Gaara, fear for her friends - and fear for herself, Tsunade hypothesized. Her big bulky cream-colored jacket glowed warmly from the far side of her rather drab and depressing office. Tsunade smirked inwardly, realizing just how metaphorical the scene looked. The girl was a bastion of light amongst the darkness the Hyuuga had fallen into the past decade or so since her mother's death. And it seemed that no one, not even Hinata herself, realized just how important this girl was. Her fearlessly kind attitude was an insurmountable asset, not weakness.

Mostly, though, she looked sad. The small spark in her eye that Tsunade always secretly admired was gone currently, and the way she held herself, albeit professional, was pained. She could tell that Hinata was having difficulty keeping up appearances in front of the group. Something was definitely amiss.

Tsunade sighed, filing that away for future confrontation. Her father would be getting an earful, no doubt. But regardless, she had a job to do – and an ally to save.

"What do they want with Gaara?" Sakura suddenly asked with a raised eyebrow. "Sure, he's the Kazekage, but wouldn't they just execute him if they wanted him out of his seat?"

"The Akatsuki are after Jinchuuriki. Do you remember what happened during your first chuunin exams?"

The pink-haired girl cringed visibly at the mention of her past, when Team Seven was still intact. "Yes, sensei, I do."

Kakashi mumbled in affirmation, before continuing. "Gaara is the jinchuuriki for the One-Tails. Like how Naruto was the jinchuuriki for the Nine-Tails. They need him alive in order to do whatever it is they do, I'm assuming."

"But…" Sakura grimaced again, but struggled through in order to get her question answered. "…what about the Nine-Tails? What happens whenever..."

"The jinchuuriki dies?" Kakashi finished for her bluntly, aware of the discomfort she was amassing at even just a passing mention of her former teammate. She nodded, eyes shifting to the floor. "We don't know, honestly. I've heard rumors, but…" he scratched the back of his neck with an apprehensive eye-smile. "I don't want to jump to conclusions just yet."

Tsunade watched the procession between student and teacher as the knot of guilt began to build up in her system. Finally, it burst, and she winced visibly, desperate to move around again.

With one swift motion, Tsunade sent her chair jettisoning backwards into the wall again, standing fiercely and cracking her knuckles at her sides. "Alright, here is the plan. Kakashi, I want you to lead the team to the Sand. Gather as much intelligence as you can on the enemy. I'll brief you all on what I know so far, but I'll admit, it isn't much." She turned and walked towards her favorite haunt – the window farthest from the Hokage Monument. The room of shinobi simply followed her with their eyes, otherwise not moving at all. "Then, I want you to go after these bastards. They think they can run around the world and just wreak havoc on whatever the hell they want?"

She turned and glared at them. "Not on my watch."

Murmurs of agreement echoed through the room, and Tsunade nodded with a sly smile. "Alright then. Glad we're all on the same page. Now, about these perpetrators. According to the scroll I received this morning, the two Akatsuki members that attacked are unknown to us." She began to walk back to her desk, a scowl on her face. "One was short and stout, like a boulder." She shook her head at the confused looks she was getting. "Not my words. I find it a bit too… cryptic myself." She leaned forward onto her desk, palms outstretched on the wooden surface, still standing. "He was only seen as the pair left the village. But rumor has it that he had a bunch of sleeper agents poised across the village, ready to strike at a moment's notice. Therefore, it's safe to assume that whoever he is, he operates primarily in the shadows." She shook her head absentmindedly, then continued. "Now, the second Akatsuki member is the most concerning to me."

"Why is that, Lady Tsunade?" came the voice of her assistant, Shizune, from behind her.

"Because," she growled, "he looks to be no more than 13 or 14 years old at the most, had vibrant orange hair, rather tattered clothes, and his skin glowed, apparently. And from the report said, he just waltzed in to the village without a care in the world, and attacked Gaara directly from his office." A twirl of her wrist in the air amplified her emphasis on the word 'waltzed'.

"13 or 14?" Sakura repeated with a frown. "Are they really that honorless, that they recruit children?"

"The Akatsuki are monsters," Gai stated solemnly from behind her. She blinked and turned to look at him, surprised by the amount of trepidation he was sporting on his brow. "They are hardly human. Certainly not youthful, by any sense of the definition."

"Then we must tackle this opponent head-on! They can do nothing in the face of our unwavering determination!" cheered Lee from the side.

"Always the optimist," grumbled Tsunade, as she pulled her chair back into place from behind her and threw herself into it gracelessly. "Regardless of how you do it, I want you to rescue Gaara. He is a great ally, and a friend to the Leaf. Do whatever you have to do. Kakashi is in charge, like I said," she stated, with a pointed glance at the copy-nin, "so do what he says. Move out as soon as possible."

"Hn," Kakashi murmured in affirmation, before turning to his squad with a serious aura. "Pack your things and meet me at the front gates in 15 minutes. Pack lightly, but for a three day trip. Bring enough water for five." He turned to Gai. "I want you to send a message back to the Sand and let them know we're on our way."

"Good idea," Tsunade quipped. "I'll have Shizune do that instead. You can go on ahead with your mission. We'll take care of the rest."

Kakashi merrily nodded as Shizune scuttled out of the room, her black-and-blue kimono fluttering behind her as she went.

"Alright then. If that is all, you're dismissed," the Hokage stated simply, crossing her arms in front of her chest and closing her eyes, sinking down into her chair like a child at the dinner table.

Then, a thought came into her mind.

"Wait – Hinata? Could you stay for a moment? I'd like a word in private."

The Kazekage Rescue Squad paused momentarily, then shrugged and continued after hearing the Hokage summon their as-of-now completely silent companion.

"Y-yes, Lady Hokage."

With the scurrying of feet, and the click of a doorknob, the two kunoichi were alone. Tsunade was still sitting at her desk with her eyes loosely shut, and Hinata turned and approached her hesitantly.

"I-I-Is something the matter, Lady Hokage?" she finally asked timidly, after Tsunade simply sat there motionless for an uncomfortable amount of time. Hinata had honestly thought the slug summoner had fallen asleep, until she suddenly reached under her desk and procured, seemingly from nowhere, a bottle of sake.

"Want some?" she asked bluntly, eyes still shut solidly. When Hinata shook her head, Tsunade seemed to understand, shrugged, and started attacking the bottle herself.

After a rather long and arduous chug, she haphazardly tossed it onto her desk, just barely keeping its contents in check, before opening her eyes and looking right at Hinata's worried face.

"Something is indeed the matter…" she said simply, sitting up in her chair, and folding her fingers together on the desktop in front of her, "…with you."

Hinata jumped. ' _Am I in trouble? Are my abilities really that bad? I thought that only my clan thought I was weak, but if the Hokage…'_

Tsunade blinked at the sad grimace glanced across the Hyuuga's face, realizing her mistake. "You misunderstand me. Please," she gestured to one of the two simple wooden chairs positioned before her desk, "take a seat. I just want to talk. Something is obviously bothering you."

Now it was Hinata's turn to blink, before the Hokage's words registered and she complied.

"Are you certain you are capable of performing this mission?" Tsunade asked with a raised eyebrow, causing Hinata to jump again, her thoughts returning to their original fearful roots.

"O-Of course, Lady Tsunade!" she stammered out with wide eyes. She opened her mouth to continue defending herself, when the Hokage simply smiled and raised a hand.

"Please, Hinata, don't worry. I'm just concerned for your wellbeing is all." She smiled a bit more in order to try and comfort the girl, but consoling others was never her strong suit. She stuck to brevity and blunt honesty instead.

But Hinata seemed to take the smile happily, giving a small one of her own – albeit forced.

"Hinata. Please. Tell me. What's wrong?"

The girl just blinked, and shifted her gaze to the floor, her flowing dark-blue hair falling in front of her face and obscuring it from the Hokage's view.

"I-I-It's been three y-years."

Tsunade could just barely make out the whisper coming from Hinata, but when she did, she grimaced in realization.

' _Of course. How could I have been so blind?'_

"Has it really been that long already?" she said softly, looking down at her hands below her. She was never a very good liar – that much was obvious. But maybe Hinata would take her rhetorical question blithely, like she had her smile earlier?

When no response came, she had her answer. The blond sighed and shook her head gently, her wide-framing bangs shaking loose and flickering across her eyes like a feather in the wind.

"Under the circumstances, there was nothing you could do. Please don't blame yourself for what happened, Hinata."

When she heard a sniffle from the girl before her, Tsunade realized Hinata was crying.

"Hey."

Hinata blinked and looked up slowly, silent tears running down her face like raindrops on a pane of glass. When her eyes met the Hokage's, she gasped inwardly.

It was now that she realized just how fatigued and disheveled the woman looked – a stark contrast to her typically meticulous attention to beauty and hygiene.

 _'Is she… is she going through the same thing?'_

Admitting that she'd been had, Tsunade let out a hollow chuckle and ran her hand through her hair, readjusting her unruly bangs and allowing the hollow feeling in her soul to finally struggle its way up to the surface.

"You're not the only one grieving, Hinata," she said bluntly, causing the girl to simply nod her head in trepidation. "Jiraiya was like a brother to me. When I heard the news…" she grimaced and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she looked over at the girl before her.

At the guilty frown on the bluenette's face, Tsunade decided to continue. "Now, that's not saying that you're not allowed to grieve as well. Just…" she sighed again, holding in her emotions, like a good shinobi. "Just know that there are others around you that are experiencing the same thing you are. Don't be afraid to come talk to me, or to Sakura, or hell – even Kakashi."

She leaned up in her chair, reaching forward and putting a hand over Hinata's firmly clenched fists, gripping each other in her lap. "Don't suffer alone. I did that for years, and it did nothing but push me away from those that mattered. Learn from my mistakes. Be the person that Naruto wanted you to be. For him."

Hinata jumped, and looked up at the Hokage with wide, tearful eyes. "F-for him?"

"For him," she repeated, a genuinely warm smile crossing her face for the first time in days.

A much smaller, but just as heartfelt smile began to blossom on Hinata's face and she nodded a few times quietly.

"Promise me," she started suddenly, gripping Hinata's hands a little more tightly, "That you'll come talk to me when you get back if you need to. Okay?"

Hinata blinked and nodded in affirmation, still at a loss for words at the genuine concern the woman was showing for her.

With another small smile - one that turned into a smirk, she pulled back, before taking another, although much more modest, swig of her sake. "Alright then. Well, you had better get going! You only have…" she trailed off and glanced at the clock on the wall, hidden partially by the bookcase, "…twelve minutes left to meet your team at the gates. Best get a move on."

With a jolt, then a smile, Hinata nodded fervently, slowly rising to her feet. "Th-thank you Lady Tsunade. I will."

Tsunade nodded once authoritatively, crossing her arms in front of her and leaning back in her chair. "Good luck. To all of you. Bring him back safely."

"Right!" Hinata said with a surprising amount of enthusiasm, even for her. Tsunade watched in mild amusement as the girl herself realized it, and bashfully took to leave the room.

When the door clicked closed again, and she was finally alone for the first time since this morning, Tsunade sighed and rubbed her eyes. "That's enough mothering for one day."

With another sip of the rice whiskey, the Legendary Sucker began to rifle around in her paper stacks, grumbling to herself.

"Now, where the hell are those scratchcards?"

* * *

The Kazekage Rescue Team had been running for nearly 4 days straight. The journey to the Sand was a rough one, and after being caught in a freak sandstorm that delayed them a day, they were exhausted and ready to drop from exhaustion.

But they had a job to do.

When they first arrived on the scene, Kakashi had immediately ordered them to spread out and search for any intelligence they might find. And much to their chagrin, there wasn't much to go off of.

The only significant information they had received was the Kankurou, the rather bold and brash puppet-wielding brother of Gaara, had attacked and been defeated by the strange "boulder"-like man shortly after the assault, and was mortally wounded by some sort of deadly toxin that invaded his body and began to shut down his internal organs, one by one.

That was, of course, until Sakura was able to stabilize him and he was able to speak once more.

As the pink haired medic-nin poured over the patient chart in the private room of the noble Sand shinobi, Kankurou finally began to awaken from his coma-like state. The instant he could move again, he was already leaning forward and trying to get up.

Until Sakura stopped him, and not-so-gently pushed him back into the bed's sweet embrace.

"Th… That kid… That kid in the Akatsuki…" Kankurou mumbled finally, still on the verge of slipping back into unconsciousness.

"Easy now, relax. You need to rest – I got the majority of the poison out, now you just have to let the antidote do its job. And that means no talking." Sakura lowered her clipboard, and stood up from the stool she was sitting on next to his bed to go through his vitals one more time.

Sakura had toiled for nearly 24 continuous hours since they had arrived in order to create an antidote to the rather strange and serious poison that had entered Kankurou's system. Now that it was working, she was concerned that it might have ill effects on the body, just as harmful as the poison itself.

After checking his pulse and temperature, she let out a sigh of relief. "It looks like you're going to make a speedy recovery. You'll be fine in a week or so." Sakura smiled weakly, signs of exhaustion clearly written all over her face.

"No… No… I have to get out there… I have to go with you…" Kankurou moaned, trying to move off of the bed.

"No! I won't allow that. You'll almost certainly die in the condition you're in right now. You're weak, you need to rest." Sakura stopped him, and pushed him back onto the pillows.

"You don't… you don't understand! The other Akatsuki, the one that poisoned me… it's Sasori of the Red Sand," Kankurou said weakly.

"What did he just say?"

An old, short, grey haired woman burst into the room with a silent fury, and jetted over to the bed in the center.

"Lady Chiyo, I'm glad you're here. It would seem that the antidote is working, and it looks like Kanku-"

"Did you just say Sasori of the Red Sand?" Chiyo bent over and peered into the slightly-closed glassy eyes of the bedridden shinobi.

"Lady… Lady Chiyo… yes," Kankuro mumbled. He could already feel that he was on his way out, about to slip back into unconsciousness.

"This is bad… very bad indeed. It looks like I'll be needing to join you and your team after all, Sakura. Where is the White Fang's son? I must speak to him about this myself."

She left as quickly and as ferociously as she arrived, leaving Sakura and Kankuro alone again.

' _Well that was… interesting,_ ' Sakura thought to herself with a deadpan glance at the door, as it slammed shut.

"No… that's not… that's not the part that worries me…" Kankuro whispered. Sakura leaned in, trying to catch what little she could of Kankuro's rapidly deteriorating voice.

"That boy… the Akatsuki member that took out Gaara single-handed… he's… he's…"

Sakura leaned in more, but by that point, Kankuro had fallen back into unconsciousness. She frowned, and put the clipboard down on the stool.

She grabbed her kunai pouch from the bedside table, and began to walk out of the room. "It looks like we're in for a surprise, then."

* * *

"S-Sakura, how is Kankuro?"

The pink-haired kunoichi closed the door gently behind her, and looked at Hinata, who was sitting on a bench outside of Kankuro's hospital room, and sporting a rather concerned look on her face.

"Oh, Hinata! He's going to be fine. I managed to get enough poison out of his system before administering the antidote, so he should make a full recovery in a day or two." She finished off her diagnosis with a smile, and sat down next to Hinata.

Hinata smiled slightly, and looked at the ground, twiddling her fingers together. "Th-that's good."

Several heartbeats of comfortable silence occupied the air around the two Leaf ninja, only occasionally interrupted by the sounds of nurses coming and going from various rooms around the hospital. Every second or so, a reassuring and healthy _beep_ would come from Kankuro's room, indicating that Sakura's assessment was accurate.

Finally, Sakura turned and looked at the Hyuuga heiress, and sighed.

"I miss him too."

Hinata jumped at the words; somewhat because they broke the warm silence that had enveloped them, but mostly because Sakura hit the nail right on the head. She frowned, and looked down at the ground, obviously lost in thought.

Acknowledging that Hinata wasn't going to respond quite yet, Sakura continued. "I still remember where I was when we got that first message back – the one from Master Jiraiya. That is a day I will never forget."

Hinata sniffled, and nodded, still staring at the ground absentmindedly.

"Lady Tsunade called me into her office, and when I arrived, Kakashi-sensei was already there. I could tell something was really, seriously wrong the moment I walked in." Sakura paused for a moment, and let her memory catch up a bit. "I don't remember much after that, it was all a blur; I just remember shaking uncontrollably and getting really, irrationally angry for some reason. After that, the next thing I knew, we were at his funeral, in front of an empty casket, and sharing our favorite stories about our favorite knuckleheaded orange-clad blondie." She smiled weakly, and waited to see if Hinata would respond. To her surprise, she did – but Sakura had to really strain her hearing in order to make out the near whisper that came out of the girl's mouth.

"…I was training with Neji when I got the news. Kiba and Shino had just returned from a mission… and were coming back from speaking with the Hokage. They had found out then… and rushed to tell me… I'm glad they did. It warms my heart to know that they knew how much he meant to me." Hinata's voice wavered, and she stopped before she began to cry again.

Sakura reached over and put her hand on the Hyuuga's shoulder. "Hinata. It's okay. You can let it out."

"N-No." Her voice was firm and loud, shocking Sakura. She looked up and right into Sakura's eyes. "N-Naruto wouldn't have wanted that, to see me cry so much over him. He'd want me to become stronger, and a better person because of it. To continue his legacy."

"You're right," smiled Sakura. "It's what Naruto would have wanted."

"St-still… I don't think I believe that it was just a training accident. Master Jiraiya wouldn't have allowed something like that to happen." Hinata looked down again, a discontent look on her face. "Something tells me that they were attacked, or poisoned, or… something."

Sakura looked at Hinata with a puzzled expression. "No, if I remember correctly, the letter from Jiraiya explicitly said that his death was as a result of chakra exhaustion, due to Naruto's attempt to create a giant Rasengan. You know how he was, always pushing himself past the breaking point, always living on the edge." She cracked her knuckles, and frowned indignantly. "All I know is, if I were there, I would have knocked some sense into both of them. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that that perv was off ogling at some woman, when Naruto snuck off to get some training on his own."

Hinata smiled warmly at the image of the two of them, then saddened again. "It's just a shame that we can't ask Master Jiraiya himself exactly what happened."

The medical ninja shook her head, and looked at the ground as well. "It was barely two weeks later. That was a very tough month to get through."

 _'Lady Tsunade had never looked worse,_ ' she added mentally, remembering the ghostly apparition of her sensei at the Sannin's funeral.

"Wh-what was his cause of death again?" Hinata had a troubled look on her face again.

Sakura sighed, and once again delved deep into the banks of her memory in order to quell Hinata's curiosity. "Well, if you remember, Naruto's body disappeared the night after Jiraiya found him…"

She was going to say "dead", but she figured that would be too insensitive right now, especially in front of Hinata. Instead, she just paused, and decided to simply skip the word and move on. "…out in the woods where they had been training. As far as Master Jiraiya could tell, there were no external wounds or injuries, apart from a blistered hand from forming the Rasengan hundreds of times. Therefore, he deduced that he had to have died from some sort of internal complication, and all signs seemed to point towards chakra exhaustion." Sakura paused, breaking out of her robotic medical professional voice, because she recognized that she sounded like she was rattling off facts, not describing the death of a friend.

After composing herself, she continued. "Jiraiya decided that it'd be best to bring his… body… back to the town they were staying at at the time and to try and get some help from the nearby hospital. However, while he was on the other side of the building writing his letter to the Hokage, someone took his body and ran off with it."

Hinata spoke before Sakura could continue. "A-Are we sure that's what happened?" She was twiddling her fingers again, obviously conflicted by the information.

"Well, dead people can't just get up and walk away, now, can they?" Sakura smiled grimly over at Hinata, but the 'joke' either passed her by, or she decided not to acknowledge it. She grimaced at the shocked look that the Hyuuga heiress gave her, and mentally punched herself. "Sorry, that was insensitive."

"N-no, Sakura, you're right." Hinata nodded, and Sakura continued her explanation, still not entirely convinced.

"Well, if you think about it, I don't believe any Jinchuuriki have ever died while still holding their tailed beast within them. Not to mention the fact that Naruto was a bit of a living legend when it came to his chakra and stamina. I'll bet you a bowl of ramen that someone wanted to get their hands on him for that reason."

This time, Hinata giggled slightly to herself, thinking about how much Naruto loved ramen. Sakura smiled warmly, glad she had slightly broken the sad atmosphere that had developed around them, and went on. "So, Jiraiya went after the body, and the people that took it. He apparently didn't get far, because we received a letter from the Hidden Stone 15 days later saying that they had recovered the body of 'one of the legendary Sannin'." Sakura put her hands up, and made rather vivacious air quotes, mocking the cryptic nature of the letter. "At first, we were all hoping that Naruto and Jiraiya had finally nabbed that bastard Orochimaru while they were out and about, but…" Sakura trailed off, assuming that Hinata could fill in the blanks. The bluenette nodded, signaling that she had.

"Thank you, Sakura. I had always wondered about that," Hinata said firmly, eyes still planted on the floor in front of her.

Before Sakura could continue, a Sand nurse rounded the corner, and approached her. "Lady Sakura, how is Lord Kankuro doing?"

"Oh, he's fine. Just resting now. I filled out the charts on the clipboard next to his bed, there's a more detailed analysis there." Sakura smiled, immediately transitioning from the role of a helping friend to the role of a professional medical ninja.

"Excellent, thank you Lady Sakura. I'll take it from here." The nurse passed them by, and began to open the door to the puppet master's room. With a smile, she turned around and addressed the two of them. "That reminds me. The rest of your group have assembled in the lobby downstairs, and they asked that I tell you that you were about to head out again."

"Thank you, nurse. We'll be on our way then." Sakura stood, and Hinata tentatively did the same.

When the nurse was out of earshot, Sakura cracked her knuckles and scowled out the window of the hospital, at the far-reaching dunes of their inhospitable surroundings.

"Alright, Hinata," Sakura grinned menacingly, as she took a few steps forward, "Let's go kick some Akatsuki ass."

* * *

Three figures trudged through the harsh desert sand, wind whipping at their cloaks, sand blasting to and fro. One figure appeared to be carrying another, while the third simply followed along at the same slow, steady pace of his companion.

Then suddenly, the carrier spoke, his voice passed along by the currents in the wind and only just barely picked up by the follower.

"You are aware that they've most likely called for the Leaf."

The follower made only a simple wave of his hand in lackadaisical boredom, signalling his comrade to get to the point.

The stout, masked figure of the strange scorpion man frowned in indignation at his partner's lack of respect. "You may encounter some of your old... _friends_ , if they have, you know."

This time, the follower did nothing to show he acknowledged the carrier's rebuttal. The carrier was about to open his mouth again to curse out the follower, when something clicked inside of his mind. Instead, he began to smile menacingly from behind his shroud.

"Oh, don't tell me that you're _expecting_ that!" he said in jest.

Once again, the follower did nothing but continue marching off towards their unseen destination.

The carrier, eyes twinkling in mild surprise, chuckled once. "You _are,_ aren't you!" He smirked and shook his head. "Leave it to you to have something in the works, woven together with the Leader's plans. I trust you intend to take care of the matter yourself?"

The follower stopped, and the carrier followed suit.

A pair of vibrant red, vulpine eyes locked with his own lifeless black ones. At the contact, the follower's eyes narrowed, as if to say ' _stay out of it, and you'll live to see another day.'_

The carrier chuckled again and continued on his way. "As you wish," he sent back behind him, before the endless sands of Wind country absorbed their silhouettes, fading off into the horizon.

* * *

 **A/N:** Edited on Sept 17, 2015. Introduction added on Jan 28, 2016.


	2. Chapter 2: Search and Rescue

_*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*_

* * *

 _ **Transformation**_ **Arc:**

 **Chapter 2 - Search and Rescue**

* * *

"Alright, Pakkun, what do you know so far?"

The ninja hound looked up at Kakashi, and then at the rest of the group assembled in the lobby of the Hidden Sand's medical facility. "Well, I've detected the scent of Gaara. He's heading east, towards the Land of Fire."

Kakashi spoke again. "And what of the two Akatsuki members that took him?"

Pakkun shook his head. "I can't smell either of them. Either they're really good at hiding their scents, which I find hard to believe, or they aren't human."

"Aren't human?" Sakura looked at the dog with her mouth agape. "Just what the hell are these Akatsuki guys anyway?"

"I don't know, but it certainly isn't good."

"What is it?" This time, it was the anxious voice of Neji. He could tell that there was something that the dog was leaving out.

"Well, as you all are probably aware of by now, I'm a ninja hound." Pakkun looked around the room at all the faces that seemed to be screaming 'We already knew that… and?!', and continued speaking. "I am primarily trained for searching out scents, but there's something else I can search out as well."

Gai, clearly rearing to go and test the strength of his youth, stared at the hound. "Well? What is it? Spit it out already!"

"Chakra. I can sense chakra," Pakkun sighed. "You just couldn't let me build up the dramatic reveal, couldn't you?"

"Unfortunately, Pakkun, we're on a tight timescale currently." Kakashi spoke first, before Gai could get another word in edgewise.

"Right. Well, in addition to Gaara's already monumental chakra, I sense a chakra far more massive and evil than that of the One-Tails."

"Only two? But how could that be? There are three of them out there, including Gaara!" Lee quipped, with a determined look that rivaled his sensei's.

"Well, honestly, because it's the only one I could sense between the two Akatsuki members. This chakra is so enormous that it blots out almost all others in the area. I can only sense Gaara because of the One-Tails, and even its chakra is just a droplet compared to this other guy's." Pakkun looked up at Kakashi. "But that's not the worst part. The worst part is, I recognize that chakra. Only this time it's much, much bigger than I remember."

There were several gasps of shock, before Gai spoke again. "What? You recognize the chakra?! Does that mean that you know the identity of this mysterious second kidnapper?"

Pakkun looked back up at Gai. "No, not for sure. Because the chakra I'm sensing is the Nine-Tails'."

"That's impossible!" Sakura exclaimed. "The Nine-Tails died along with Naruto almost a year and a half ago!"

"Actually, no it's not. Tailed Beasts are not living per se – they are sentient chakra beings that can be reformed in the event of the death of their Jinchuuriki," Kakashi responded. "If I remember correctly, the same thing happened to the previous Mizukage, who happened to be a Jinchuuriki. Rumor has it that the Three-Tails that was sealed within him has reformed somewhere in the Hidden Mist."

The old woman known as Chiyo nodded in the back, listening intently. "Yes, I recall hearing that as well."

"So what does this mean? That the Nine-Tails has returned and is actively assisting the Akatsuki?" Neji looked at both Kakashi and Pakkun with narrowed eyes. "That doesn't sound like something that the Nine-Tails would be willing to do."

"You're right," Kakashi replied. "I personally believe that the Nine-Tails reappeared _somewhere_ and was subsequently sealed within another Jinchuuriki."

" _What?"_ This time, almost everyone in the group jumped. This was startling news, if it happened to be true.

"Yes. Judging by the fact that the Akatsuki started out their assault on Jinchuuriki with Gaara, who houses the One-Tails, I assume that whatever they are planning to do with them requires them to be acquired in order, from least number of tails to most. Now, this is only hypothetical, but I'm guessing that the Akatsuki found the Nine-Tails _first –_ and rather than trying to keep it locked away, full sized, for an extended period of time, they instead chose to seal it away in one of their own members until such time that they can properly deal with it."

There were a few murmurs of agreement, before Pakkun spoke up again. "But Kakashi, the amount of chakra that's being spewed into the air from this… new Jinchuuriki… is massive – much, much more massive than the amount I sensed coming from Naruto when I saw him last."

"That's true. I'll bet that the seal they are using to keep it in check isn't nearly as powerful as the Eight Trigrams Seal that the Fourth Hokage used on Naruto – so it's not quite as good at holding back all of that energy. Lord Fourth was an expert in sealing jutsus, so either the Akatsuki didn't know of the Eight Trigrams seal, or, more likely, they knew it was short term, and chose a weaker seal on purpose."

Finally, Pakkun nodded. "Alright, I think that's a reasonable assumption." Murmurs of agreement came from the rest of the group, before the ninja hound spoke up again. "Regardless of origins, I know where they are. They're about two days out at full speed, and I can take you there."

"Alright then, lead the way," Kakashi nodded, as the Leaf ninja and Chiyo ran out the doors of the hospital and out into the windy desert twilight.

* * *

"We're almost there! Come, comrades! Let us push ourselves to the limit in order to achieve our goal!" Lee called out from ahead of the group. Everyone sighed, even Gai.

Kakashi shouted ahead. "Lee! Wait! If you push yourself any harder, you'll be useless in the upcoming fight against the Akatsuki!"

Lee froze immediately, crashing through the tree branch he was about to land on like a drunken rhinoceros. "You are most correct, Kakashi-sensei! In fact, We must _not_ push ourselves to the limit in order to achieve our goal!"

"Finally, he gets it," moaned Sakura, as she jumped down to make sure that Lee was alright.

But the fall didn't seem to faze him at all. "ONWARD!" he shouted, and jumped back up to the trees.

Neji, for once in his life, partially agreed with his green-clad partner. "Actually, Kakashi-sensei, I believe that we can probably pick up the pace a little bit. We've been travelling for a day and a half – if we have any hope of catching them before they arrive at whatever destination they are heading towards, we need to move quickly. More quickly than we have been."

Kakashi nodded. "You're right. We need to hurry. The longer it takes to get there, the more difficult it will be to rescue Gaara."

"There's no need," Pakkun stated from the front of the formation. "They've stopped. We'll be there any moment now."

"Wonderful!" replied Chiyo with a hint of venom in her voice. "I can't wait to see my grandson again. It's been a while."

* * *

"Oi. Sasori," called out a child's voice. It was laced with a deep growl, and a deep malice, and gave off the illusion of two voices speaking simultaneously – one young and high, and another dark and low.

After several moments, a gruff and gravelly voice replied. "You sense them too?"

The two Akatsuki members stopped, and leapt down into a clearing that they had spotted below, cloaks billowing behind them.

The short and hunched man unraveled what looked to be a scorpion's tail, and the captured Kazekage hit the ground with a loud "thump".

"Yes," replied the child. "We're being followed."

The short man's face smirked underneath his masked face. "Hmm. So we are."

* * *

"They should be just up ahead! We need to be careful now, as to-"

 _BOOM!_

Kakashi's words were cut short as the forest in front of them vaporized almost immediately in a massive explosion that consumed all in its path. A few hundred yards from the Leaf ninja erupted a massive mushroom cloud; one that plumed into the bright blue sky like a virus, infecting the happy and carefree world with pain and overwhelming power.

The seven ninja and ninja dog were blown backwards into the forest from which they came. After the initial shockwave, the blast itself approached quickly – but not quick enough, as Kakashi weaved a few hand signs and slammed his palms into the ground as he and everyone else slid backwards.

" **Earth Style! Mud Wall!"**

A huge mound of earth adorned with the faces of several ninja hounds erupted between the flailing shinobi and the blastwave – for a moment, it looked like the wall would hold. But a split second later, another wall appeared behind the first, just as the explosion broke free from the old wall and continued on its march of destruction.

After another moment of fire and flame and noise, the blast receded, and all that was left was the far-off sound of thousands of birds taking to the skies and fleeing from the danger.

Sakura gasped and coughed, having had the wind knocked out of her as she was blown backwards into a tree. ' _Wh…what was that?'_

Hinata struggled to her feet, and immediately came to the aid of her cousin and his sensei. Lee crawled out of a trench that his own body had dug into the ground as he was blown backwards, and stumbled towards his teammates, holding his left arm tenderly and wincing every time he took a step.

Kakashi jumped down to meet them, never taking his eyes off of the mud wall that stood between them and what was undoubtedly a scene of charred forest. His sharingan was exposed, and his guard was up. This was it. The Akatsuki.

"As impressive as always, Kyuubi," came a chuckle from atop the wall. After two or three heartbeats, a short, stout silhouette appeared on the top of the wall, looking down on them. "Although next time, please give me more warning. I barely had time to shield the One-Tails."

Another series of heartbeats. Now the entire shinobi rescue team was focused on the wall. Sakura moved towards Lee, and began healing his wounded arm.

"It's a shame, really," came another voice. This one was strange – Sakura knew the voice was from a child that was several years her junior, she could tell by the way he spoke. And yet it was also a voice that could have come from the depths of hell itself. "I thought I'd take out at least one of them by the time they got in range."

Sakura immediately turned back to the wall, just as another figure joined the first.

A cloud moved in front of the sun, blotting out the blinding light that shielded the identities of the two Akatsuki they found before them. Finally, the team could get a decent look at who they were up against.

On the left was an almost round man – on the front, his head stuck out like a haphazardly placed afterthought on a festival costume. A jet black cloak was wrapped around him, in perfect condition, speckled with blood red blotches that resembled the shape of clouds. On his head was a straw hat that extended a good solid foot in all directions from his head, with tweed strands dangling from the rim. However, the man's face was not obstructed from view. They could see two beady brown eyes looking back at them, and a mouth covered by a piece of fabric. However, they could tell by the glare of the man that he was… _smiling_.

The boy on the right was a completely different story altogether. His cloak was ripped and ragged and smoldering… ' _No doubt due to the jutsu he just cast_ ', thought Sakura. The left shoulder and sleeve of the cloak was completely missing, revealing a sizeable portion of his chest and upper body, and the right shoulder had seen better days. The torn and tattered edges flapped about in the wind, revealing more of his skin. All across his body were deep gashes and cuts – many the length and width of a full sized arm. Underneath the cuts was a dark red, crimson orb of energy – Sakura had almost mistaken it for blood before realizing that it was moving, _flowing._ On his head was an equally singed straw hat, very similar in size and shape to his companion's. However, his head was pointed down, looking at his feet, which were covered in (what used to be) white stockings that wrapped around and under his black shinobi sandals.

The mud wall began to collapse back into the ground, and the two Akatsuki rode it down as it fell. As they descended from their perch, Sakura noticed that the short one on the left had what looked like a scorpion's tail sticking above his head, pointed menacingly at them. She looked back over at the one on the right, trying to deduce who, or _what_ , he was. All she saw was a lock of orange hair stick out from a hole in the top of the hat that billowed around in the wind as much as the rest of his apparel did.

Chiyo, who had been mysteriously missing since just before the explosion, landed amidst the Leaf shinobi, and glared in the direction of the two cloaked shinobi. "Sasori. It's been a while."

The short one chuckled heartily before responding. "Ah, grandmother. I had a feeling that you would be among the 'rescue group'." He hissed the last words mockingly, never turning his eyes away from Chiyo.

"Indeed. Once I heard that you were one of the assailants, I just _had_ to see my grandson again one last time… before he died!" She stuck her hands in her robes' pockets, and withdrew two small scrolls. "It's been a while since I've needed to use these – it's only fitting." A slight chuckle left her lips as she opened them both and swiped her already bloody thumbs across the summoning seals in one fluid motion.

In a puff of smoke, a pair of puppets that looked uncannily human appeared before her. Her fingers were now outstretched, and small, nearly invisible chakra strands connected the puppets to her. She wiggled them slightly, and the two figures contorted into attack positions.

"The Mother and Father puppets? How archaic," chortled Sasori. "I expected better from you, Granny."

Chiyo smirked and jerked her fingers forward, urging life into her puppets. "Not necessary!" she shouted as the Mother and Father launched forwards, brandishing various weapons.

"ENOUGH!"

A massive red hand whipped around from behind the yet unnamed Akatsuki, which obliterated the two puppets instantaneously. Weapons and chunks of wood flew in all directions, and all that remained of the puppets was two ash marks on the forest floor in front of them.

It slowly retracted back to the child, as he fumed. "We don't have time for children's toys. We need to move on, the sealing begins at sundown."

Hinata gasped, as Chiyo simply frowned menacingly at the boy. But it was Sasori, not Chiyo, that spoke first.

"Children's toys?" He turned to his partner. "My art is _forever!_ No child could ever hope to grasp the concept of everlasting life and power!"

"Shut up, Sasori," growled the disheveled character. Sakura shivered as she heard him talk. It was creepy – two voices from one mouth. "We do this my way."

The puppetmaster grumbled back, before turning to face the ninja yet again.

The pink-haired kunoichi grimaced as Sasori's companion sighed with faux relief. "That's better. Now stay in your place. I can handle this alone."

' _That voice…'_ thought Sakura. ' _It sounds pretty familiar.'_

She heard Hinata gasp to her right. She turned to look at him, and she was frozen in shock and terror at the boy in front of her.

Sakura returned her gaze to the two as the mysterious one began to speak in double yet again. "The One-Tails is no longer any of your concern. This is a matter between Tailed Beasts, and I don't intend to allow any of you kit to interfere with the inner workings of a force that is more powerful than anything you can ever possibly admit to even just barely understanding."

Hinata began sobbing. ' _Is she really this scared? I understand her fear, but I've never heard her cry like that in front of an enemy before.'_

"Just who are you, anyway?" came Kakashi's voice in front of her. "You call yourself a tailed beast, but you are clearly a human. Perhaps a Jinchuuriki, but still human."

The 'Tailed Beast' broke out into a loud and crazed bout of laughter. "HA! Maybe before. Maybe in another time. But now?" His hand reached up to grab his straw hat. His fingernails were grown into long, dark claws, and on his ring finger was a large blue ring. Even on his hand, holes poked through his skin and a bright red swirling energy force peeked out at them.

He grasped the hat and began to tug. "I am Kyuubi, the Nine-Tailed Fox!" He tossed the hat aside still looking at the ground and shielding his face from the group. A crop of messy orange hair burst into view. There were chunks of hair and flesh missing from the top, and more of the mysterious chakra was oozing out there as well.

"That's impossible! You're only a child!"

The orange-haired figure only laughed harder. ' _Wait… I know that voice for sure.'_

Hinata began mumbling, still crying and trying not to break down completely. "It can't be… I-It can't be…"

"I think you'll find that you're the child, _Kakashi-sensei!"_ roared the boy, finally looking up and staring at them with his large, red, slitted eyes.

"Wh-what?" Sakura heard her sensei whisper. "What did you call me?" But she wasn't paying too much attention. She was, instead, focused completely on the now exposed face of the boy in front of her.

There was no denying it.

It was him.

"N…N…Naruto!?"


	3. Chapter 3: Reunion

_*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*_

* * *

 _ **Transformation**_ **Arc:**

 **Chapter 3 - Reunion**

* * *

"There's no way! There's just no way!" Sakura whispered, looking up at her old teammate, eyes quivering in their sockets. It was Naruto all right, there was no mistaking it.

His face was mostly the same as she remembered it from three years ago – slightly chubby cheeks, three whisker marks adorning each side. He still had his lopsided grin, but it was made all the more unsettling by the look in his eyes. And his eyes… his eyes. They were a deep, crimson red – a stark contrast from the pools of crystal blue that she was so used to seeing staring back at her, asking her on dates and pulling pranks on the village.

That innocent look was gone, replaced with one that was crazed – deranged, even. He had small black rod piercings across his forehead and in front of his ears, giving him the appearance of a cadaver that had been pulled apart for research then clamped back together. The color of his skin played the part as well, giving off an eerie pale and lifeless glow.

But the most startling change of all was his hair. His once untamed and wild blond hair had become a rather fiery orange color – and small pieces of his scalp were missing, giving his hair the appearance of having lost a fight with a pair of scissors and a roll of bubble gum.

His forehead protector was in tatters, and the symbol for the Hidden Leaf, set in metal in the middle, had a sharp and jagged line drawn through it.

Sakura resisted the urge to gag. His appearance was too much for her to take in at once. He looked like a dead man walking, and from what she had understood from how he disappeared, she didn't doubt that to be the case at all.

She urged herself to speak, but all that came out was a horrified whimper – it was Gai who finally broke the silence as the Kazekage rescue team stared at their former comrade, stupefied by what they were seeing.

"Just what are you now, anyway, Naruto? And who did this to you?"

Naruto's eyes bulged slightly as he broke out into another fit of deranged laughter. "Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. And what am I? I just told you!" He leaned forward, completely expressionless, and stated plainly, "I'm Kyuubi."

"But… but you were dead!" shouted Neji. "Jiraiya saw your dead body himself!"

Another fit of laughter, and a long, exasperated sigh. "Was dead? WAS dead?" He giggled maniacally, and took a step forward, staring Neji down. Then, without warning, he took out a kunai from within his tattered robes, and plunged it into his chest, where his heart…

…should have been.

He watched their horrified faces and cackled again. "You see, Neji, I AM dead!"

His gaze softened as he let go of the kunai, leaving it firmly seated within his upper body. "This body is nothing more than a puppet that I'm _stuck to_ ," He spat, a look of pure hatred on his face.

"What are you talking about? Naruto, slow down." Kakashi took a step back, towards where Lee, Neji, and Hinata were standing.

Now Lee spoke. His voice was ragged – he was obviously in pain. But that didn't stop him from asking a question.

"How do we know you are who you say you are? Are you really the Naruto I know?"

Naruto sighed, and smirked. He stuck out his left hand, snapped a few times, and held his index finger out, pointing towards the sky. As if on cue, a massive orb of blue swirling chakra began to rotate on top of it, where it held for a moment while he addressed his former companions again. "This enough of an explanation for you?"

Sakura eyed the Rasengan, her worst fears becoming true. ' _So this really is Naruto then… what happened-_ '

Hinata screamed, taking two steps forward. "What happened to you?!"

Naruto ignored her, fascinated by the orb of energy he was holding. After a moment or two, blue and black orbs began to amass themselves around him, orbiting around the Rasengan, before fusing with it completely, turning it a deep shade of purple. After he was satisfied with its size, he looked it over with a bored expression, tossing it from hand to hand, index finger to index finger.

Kakashi's eyes widened. "Is… is that?"

Suddenly, Naruto flicked upwards, and the small orb flew off into the sky. A moment later, it erupted in a mind-numbingly massive and powerful explosion, blotting out the sun and deafening the group of ninja below it for a moment. After a few heartbeats, the blast receded, leaving a massive cloud of vaporized atmosphere, and ash from the few unfortunate birds that couldn't get away in time.

Naruto's expression was still bored, and he was now focused on the ring on his finger. It was a blue-teal color, and Naruto twisted it around his right index finger with mild amusement. Then, he turned back to the Leaf ninja.

"And now you know that I'm serious when I say that I'm the Kyuubi."

"But how? What did Naruto do to release you? And why didn't you reform after Naruto died?"

The boy placed his hand over his chest, around the kunai, and donned an expression of fake hurt. "You talk about me as if I'm not standing right in front of you." He grinned, and moved his hand to his face, gently rubbing the black metal rods that were imbedded in his skin.

"You mean you're both the Kyuubi _and_ Naruto?" Kakashi eclaimed. "How is that even possible?"

Naruto looked down on the group, and let out a single chuckle. "Ha! There's a lot that even I didn't know, until it all started happening." He reached into his robes again, and pulled out a small, mangled book – and tossed it to Kakashi. He caught it without breaking eye contact.

"What's this?"

Naruto closed his eyes, and smirked. "It should help answer all of your questions. They say knowledge is power, but in this case, I'd say thinking something like that would be rather foolish, wouldn't you agree?"

Finally, Kakashi looked down, and saw the words "TRAINING LOG AND DIARY" along the top, followed by the name "JIRAIYA" etched into the bottom. The leather bound book had seen better days, but it was still in one piece. He looked back up at his former student, a look of surprise and curiosity across his face.

"Why are you giving me this?"

Naruto shrugged with a smile. "You deserve to know. At least, that's how I see it." As Kakashi looked at the book again, Naruto glanced at the sky, and noted the position of the sun. He cursed, and turned back to Kakashi.

"Well, it looks like our time here has run out. You lot made me who I am today, and for that I am grateful. For that reason, I will spare your lives." His eyes narrowed, as he glanced briefly at everyone before his gaze returned to his sensei's. "I will not make the same decision twice."

With a flurry of black and red, he turned around quickly, and began to walk back towards the charred forest behind him. What they saw next made their stomachs turn – and Hinata let out another sob.

There was a massive hole in the back of the boy, only slightly covered by a small tattered piece of his Akatsuki robe. Within the hole, a large mass of black and red chakra flowed about, flashing occasionally, and glowing with an evil aura that radiated outwards like heat from a flame.

Naruto chortled again at their reaction, and turned around slightly to look back at them as Sasori made his way back to the hiding place that he had stashed Gaara in. "Like what you see?"

Finally, Sakura stepped forward as well. "Wait, stop! What are you planning to do with Gaara?"

Naruto stopped, and looked at her. His gaze was like the blade of a knife, and it drew all the heat out of her in a moment. She stood there, shaking, terrified, as he blinked a few times and shook his head. "It's not Gaara we want. We only want the One-Tails. Gaara is of no concern to us."

"We can't let you just steal our friend- _your_ friend away like that!" Neji growled, moving into his Gentle Fist taijutsu stance. Naruto let out a shrill laugh, then turned to look at him.

"That's true, I guess. I should have expected as much. Oh well, better to be safe than sorry."

As the group began to move forward towards their former comrade, a red flash shot across their fields of vision all at once, and they fell to the ground, nearing unconsciousness.

"I can't have you meddling in my affairs, now can I?" He said, looking down at Kakashi with a smile, before turning around and walking away.

Hinata watched his cloaked silhouette walk off into the distance, as her eyelids grew heavy and her head began to throb. "Wh…what happened to you, N…Naruto?"

* * *

Sakura woke with a start, almost cracking her skull against Lee's, who was hovering over her with a damp cloth and dabbing her forehead. He jumped, she jumped, and everyone else in the clearing jumped.

"Oh, good. Sakura. You're awake too." Kakashi sighed, before waving at her from across the way. He was sitting on a tree trunk, with a few pieces of paper out, jotting things down. He had the small leather bound book sitting on the log beside him, and was watching Sakura try and stand up with a look of concern. "Are you sure you should be moving around? I'm not exactly a medical expert, but I can tell when someone has had some minor head injuries."

Sakura stood, grimacing and grabbing her head before looking back up at her sensei. "I'll be fine in a moment. I just need to get my bearings, that's all."

She looked around, and noticed that they were in the same clearing they had been in before when they encountered Naruto, only now it was late at night. A small campfire danced about in the center of the clearing, where Hinata was laying, still unconscious.

Neji and Gai were sitting on the opposite side of the fire, looking solemnly into it as it flowed around, moving across the wood in the pile like a sickness. Lee was sitting to her right, staring at her with his big black eyes, wondering if she was okay. She rubbed her face, and sat back down again.

"There we go. Much better." She popped her neck, and looked back at Kakashi. "What happened, exactly? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that we just ran into Naruto. And he was with the Akatsuki. And where's Chiyo?"

"Hmm." Kakashi murmured in agreement. "I thought it was a dream too. But no, it's not." He turned slightly, and picked up the book that was sitting next to him. "Chiyo went after them, I think. But regardless, you might want to read this."

She caught it easily; he had only underhanded it to her. She gasped slightly at seeing the name and title of the book, and quickly flipped it open to read it, before closing it again suddenly.

"Wait, what about Gaara?"

"I lost the trail," came Pakkun's voice, jumping down into the clearing from the treetops above. "Wherever they are, they're shielded. I can't detect any of the Nine-Tails' chakra anymore."

Sakura sighed, and Kakashi just looked at her. "This mission is a failure. We are going to head back to the Leaf and try to dissect this… new development properly. And try to figure out a way to bring him back."

The girl only nodded, still looking at the book in front of her, as Hinata began to stir.

"Wh-what happened?" she mumbled, as she got to her feet. Suddenly, her eyes shot open. "He's alive. S-somehow, he's alive!" She smiled slightly, then frowned, remembering that 'he' had almost killed them for the fun of it.

Gai piped up. "Yes, and whoever did that to him was most unyouthful in every way. I have my money on Orochimaru." He glared at the fire for a moment, then jumped up with a renewed fervor. "All right then! Time to get back to training!" He took off into the charred woods, jumping on his hands until he couldn't be seen anymore.

Kakashi only deadpanned and sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know how he does it."

"It wasn't Orochimaru, wasn't it."

The lack of stuttering in Hinata's voice shocked them slightly, especially after what she had just seen. Their shock, however, was dwarfed by the words she spoke themselves.

"What do you mean, Hinata?" Sakura looked up at the bluenette, who had since begun to frown angrily into the fire in front of her.

"W-well, he didn't have a curse mark. At least, not one that I c-could see, plus, I mostly just have this gut feeling."

"You're right. It wasn't Orochimaru that did this." This time, Kakashi's voice stunned the shellshocked shinobi. He pointed to the book. "That book tells us everything that we need to know. It fills in all the blanks… Naruto was right." Then he, too, averted his eyes to the fire before them. "I couldn't have been more wrong with my hypothesis." He mumbled, before putting his hands into his pockets.

Neji piped up. "We have to get this information to Lady Hokage. How far away are we from the Hidden Leaf?"

Kakashi looked up at him. "We're a little less than a day's walk. We should get there by midday tomorrow, if we hurry." Then, his voice took a much more serious tone. "You're right; we need to get this intel back to the Leaf as soon as possible. If this is true, then we are going to need some serious time to think."

Sakura couldn't help herself anymore, and opened up to the first page of the diary. Her eyes grew wide as she read the first page.

* * *

 _TRAINING LOG AND DIARY, BY JIRAIYA_

 _ENTRY ONE – TWO DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE WITH NARUTO_

 _I was told by Tsunade that it would be a good idea if I wrote down the progress and development of Naruto's training, in case something were to go wrong, or for future reference. For once, I actually agree with her. If the Akatsuki are really after him, then there's a good chance that we'll run into some trouble along the way, and I want to make sure that our travels are well documented enough that others can learn from this experience. After all, a 3 year training expedition across the world with a legendary Sannin is something that many would kill for!_

 _Regardless, we leave two days from now at sunrise. Our first stop along the way is a pleasant little Hot Springs resort just north of the Hidden Leaf Village – somewhere where I'm sure I'll find_ lots _of lovely specimens for my research into the next Makeout Tactics novel! I already anticipate that it will be a best seller, and I haven't even put pen to paper yet! In fact, I think I'll start right away! I'll just have to stop by the woman's bath here in the Leaf in order to gather some more… inspiration…_

 _ENTRY TWO – DAY TWO OF TRAINING_

 _And we're off! Naruto got a little peeved at our first destination, and demanded that we go somewhere else. I normally wouldn't buckle to that brat's demands, but the woman heard him screaming and shouting and I got busted. So now we're on the road again, this time heading towards a small village in the hills towards the Hidden Rain._

 _It's come to my understanding that we are going to need to tap into the Nine-Tails' chakra in order for Naruto to have a snowball's chance in hell of defending himself against the Akatsuki. That brat has talent, I'll give him that, but talent alone doesn't stop a group of rogue S-class ninja from coming in and snatching you up in the night like the boogieman. For now, I've got him on some chakra control exercises. He doesn't seem to be enjoying them, but he has to start with the basics. How this kid has gotten anywhere is beyond me. Well, actually, it isn't! It's obviously because of the tutelage of his amazing sensei that he's made it this far. But regardless, the basics aren't called basics for no good reason. So for now, that's what we'll be working towards._

 _In the meantime, I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for anything that could possibly help in taming the Nine-Tails within Naruto. This next village has a library, perhaps I'll snoop around in their restricted section. You never know what sorts of secrets that long-extinct clans leave behind that are ripe for the picking. Sort of like_ another _series of restricted books. Hehehe._

 _ENTRY THREE – DAY SIXTY TWO OF TRAINING_

 _I found something! I couldn't believe it at first, but I think I finally found an answer to what we need. It's an old sealing jutsu that was long since used to incapacitate large forest creatures that would rampage through their village all the time. It seems far-fetched, but I think I can actually modify the sealing technique so that it works in combination with the eight trigrams seal that Minato placed on his son, and I think it will completely suppress the Nine-Tails' personality and allow him to tap into its chakra without consequence or worry of the Tailed Beast getting out. I'll be working on that in the coming days._

 _For now though, I've been training Naruto in basic combat reasoning. For goodness' sake, the fact that this kid has lived this long is a miracle in itself. Once he can finally think a little bit better on his feet, we'll finally try to get to some real, meaningful stuff. As soon as I get this jutsu formula worked out, we'll be starting on that immediately._

 _ENTRY FOUR – DAY SEVENTY EIGHT OF TRAINING_

 _We did it! Err, rather, I did it! After toiling over the sealing jutsu I found, I figured out a way to get it to work with the Eight Trigrams Seal. And it worked great! Naruto says that now the Nine-Tails has finally shut up. And, he's been able to tap into its chakra almost completely so far. He's been pretty excited about the power boost, but I can't let it all get to his head. For now though, I think that I'll be trying to get him to master the Big-Ball Rasengan technique – now that he has extra chakra in spades, he can properly train for longer periods of time without too much fatigue. Before, this would have seriously exhausted him. Now though, I'll bet that he can pull of a few dozen of these bad boys consecutively in combat. That is, of course, if he's actually able to get it down. And for as hard-headed as he is, I'm finding it hard to hope he'll ever master it._

 _Also – I ran into a half dozen beautiful women on the riverfront this afternoon. For further reference, please see "Research Notes, page 387". I drew a pretty generous picture of one of them there. She'll definitely be inspiration for my next book!_

 _ENTRY FIVE – DAY EIGHTY FIVE OF TRAINING_

 _Honestly, did I ever have doubts in the kid? He's mastered the Big Ball Rasengan – at least, his is bigger than mine is now. Hmmpf. Regardless, I think we'll move on to some shadow clone formations – I have an idea for how he can use them as jumping platforms while in midair to change direction. It's possible it's nothing, but it's worth a shot!_

 _Something strange has started happening to Naruto though. His hair's started turning orange! Well, the hair that's actually_ staying on his head. _For some reason, he's losing clumps of it on a daily basis, and it's seriously starting to freak me out. Part of me thinks that he's doing this in order to spite me. That cheeky son of a bitch. I'll have to go through his stuff and try to find that hair dye. Because I bet you half the profits of the next Makeout Tactics book that he's gonna come for me next._

 _ENTRY SIX – DAY ONE HUNDRED AND TWO OF TRAINING_

 _This… isn't good, I'll admit. Naruto is getting very fatigued, very quickly now. I honestly have no idea what's wrong with him. Maybe he's just pulling my leg. But honestly, that boy would saw off his own foot if it meant he could keep training. Regardless of fatigue, his hair has started to turn orange – it's rather strange seeing him like this now. Every time I see him, I jump, because he looks a little like Yahiko. Except with mostly blond hair. And he doesn't have a Rinnegan wielding friend. (yet)_

 _Note to self: look into relationship between Rinnegan and orange hair._

 _Naruto has been able to pull off mid-air direction changes using shadow clones – I have to admit, it's a pretty useful technique. However, now he's adamant that he can increase the size of his big-ball Rasengan even more than he already has, and has basically spent every waking moment trying to do so. If he gets the damn thing any bigger,_ I'm _going to have to start trying to pump more chakra into my own Giant Rasengan. I swear, this whole trip has been nothing but a power struggle._

 _ENTRY SEVEN – DAY ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN OF TRAINING_

 _Naruto's fallen ill. Very ill. I'm taking him to the nearby hospital to see what they have to say._

 _ENTRY EIGHT – DAY ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE OF TRAINING_

 _Well, turns out I was right! It's chakra exhaustion. The bastard's run himself dry with all the big-ball Rasengan he's made the last few days._

 _Still, I'm a little concerned with some of the things that have been happening to Naruto recently, so I'm going to try to take the seal off and give him some time to recuperate before we try anything else. His hair has turned completely orange, and he looks older than Tsunade does. Something's wrong with him, so we're gonna play it safe and just remove the seal and go from there._

 _ENTRY NINE – DAY ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN OF TRAINING_

 _Naruto unresponsive. Taking to hospital now. Very bad feeling._


	4. Chapter 4: Startling News

_*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*_

* * *

 _ **Transformation**_ **Arc:**

 **Chapter 4 - Startling News**

* * *

"This is unbelievable."

A wide-eyed Tsunade set the journal down, and looked up at the team of exhausted travelers. She put her hands together and rested her forehead on them, in her typical display of contemplation.

Kakashi nodded in agreement, before speaking. "It seems that Jiraiya was tampering with forces he really should have been more careful with. We don't know the specifics of what happened, other than what was listed in that diary. But one thing's for sure – that… kid… isn't completely Naruto anymore."

Tsunade murmured in agreement, before looking up and back at him. "Yeah. This is just…" She let out a deep sigh, as her voice began to waver.

She turned her attention back to the book, flipping through the series of pages with Jiraiya's neat and quickly written scribbles. She turned back to the last page of writing that she had read, and looked it over again.

"Naruto unresponsive. Taking to hospital now. Very bad feeling." She repeated to herself, before looking through the rest of the book. From what she could see, the rest was empty, save for a few blood-soaked pages towards the end.

"So," she said firmly, looking back up at Kakashi. "You ran into Naruto. But are you really sure that it's him? This person could have simply stumbled upon Jiraiya's notebook while traveling. After all, we looked and looked and looked and could never find it, no matter where we checked. It wasn't on his body when the Hidden Stone found it, so it's possible he was looted before being discovered." Even saying it out loud didn't make sense. She knew that it was him – she could just tell. It was a gut feeling.

"My lady," Sakura replied, "There's no doubt about it. That was Naruto."

The Hokage nodded, before looking back down at her desk in thought. "What did he look like? Did he match the description the Hidden Sand gave us before I sent you on your way?"

Kakashi spoke again. "The description was mostly accurate. However, the strange gashes in his body that seemed to be very deep and very wide weren't actually gashes at all. They were tears in the skin, and the Kyuubi's chakra was seeping out of it. It's a wonder his body is still held together, after all this time."

Neji nodded. "He even said that his body was like a puppet, one that he was forced to inhabit."

Tsunade smirked, still staring off into space. "Now why does that sound so familiar?"

She leaned up, and barked a few names. "Boar! Weasel!"

Two ANBU Black Ops members seemingly appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the room, much to the surprise of Hinata, who was standing sheepishly in the corner.

"Yes, Lady Hokage?"

"Have there been any recent developments in the hunt for Orochimaru and Sasuke?"

Sakura's breath hitched at the mention of her former teammate, but she shook it off and stared at the two ANBU with anticipation. ' _Please let there be news. Please.'_

"Sorry, ma'am. Without Master Jiraiya's rather comprehensive spy network, I'm sorry to report that we have received no news from any of our field operatives as to the location or condition of the Uchiha boy and Orochimaru."

"Very well. You are dismissed." She ran her fingers through her hair, looking down at the desk again, as the two masked shinobi bowed and vanished as quickly as they had arrived. "Damn. I was hoping we would have a lead on them. Maybe if we ran into them somehow…" She trailed off, quickly losing faith in the plan before she even finished coming up with it.

"M'lady," Sakura began again, "One thing's for sure. From what I could see of his body, he doesn't look… living." She grimaced as the image of his pale, lifeless flesh came to mind again.

Suddenly, the slug princess stood up, sending her chair flying back and bumping into the rear wall. She leaned over onto her desk, then turned around and walked to the large glass windows that garnished the rear of her office, giving her a decent view of the village she swore to protect.

Several heartbeats passed. Finally, she spoke, her back still facing the shinobi awaiting her orders.

"Sakura. I want you to take the journal to Shikamaru and try and find any hidden meanings or clues that might allude to more information on Naruto's… condition. Jiraiya was always a tricky one, I'll bet there's some other secrets in there that we haven't found yet.

" Kakashi. I want you and Gai to gather a task force to try and determine how much of a threat that he might have become since leaving the village. I grant you full access to the Leaf's library and records. Spare no expense.

"Neji and Lee, I want you to move out and try and find a copy of this mysterious sealing jutsu that Jiraiya used on Naruto. It could hold a clue as to why Naruto suffered the fate that he did. Take Asuma and Kurenai with you." She turned finally, before finishing her requests. Her eyes fell on Hinata.

"Hinata… I want you to meet up with anyone that Naruto had a deep personal connection with, and interview them. Try to find out what might have caused this sudden change in his loyalties. Start with Iruka and Konohamaru. I'm sure they have quite a bit of knowledge of the inner workings of his mind." She paused, letting out a sigh, before continuing. "Naruto's apartment has been untouched since his departure from the Leaf village three years ago. I want you to also go through his belongings, and see if you can find anything that may help with the cause."

Hinata just looked at her for a moment, trying to mentally process the information she had just received. Finally, she nodded, and clenched her fists.

Everyone else in the room murmured in agreement, and took off on their various missions. Shizune, who hadn't moved since Kakashi's team reported back, finally spoke. "My Lady, are you sure you aren't overextending yourself? I mean, Naruto is a missing-nin now. There's nothing we can do for him."

Tsunade slowly turned, and glared at her assistant, who immediately paled and took a step back. "I-I'm sorry, I just think that devoting this many village resources to finding out what happened-"

"Enough! I don't want to hear another word, Shizune," barked the blond bombshell. "Something happened to him – something _big_. He wouldn't just abandon his home – his dreams – for kicks. That's not the Naruto I know."

She turned back to her desk, fished for her chair behind her with her right hand, and sat back down again. "Something that can consume even the most stubborn of kids like that should _never_ be taken lightly."

* * *

Hinata left the Hokage tower slowly and silently. After walking out into the late afternoon sunshine, she sighed, and looked around for a moment. Armies of shopkeepers and customers were frantically trying to get in their last sales of the day before the sun went down completely, and she smiled before starting down the street, navigating between the groups of children that were running around, chasing each other, and the families that were out shopping as a unit before going home and relaxing for the evening, together.

Hinata thought about the family she had at home, and grimaced slightly to herself. She fully expected a lecture on her performance on the Kazekage rescue mission from her father when she returned, and was prepared to have him call her a failure and unfit for the position of clan heiress once more. Every time she heard him say those words to her, she felt a little bit of her soul get crushed out of her, and her confidence wavered more and more by the day. But all she had to do was remember what Naruto had shown her, during the Chuunin exams, during their short time together as fellow shinobi of the Leaf, and she was able to cope that much more with the mental torment her father put her through on a daily basis. Luckily, she had her sister, Hanabi, to help comfort her after a particularly venomous tongue lashing, but as her father's discontent with her increased, his faith in his _other_ daughter only grew. So as time went on, her sister became more and more busy and withdrawn, as their father trained her to be the competent heiress the Hyuuga needed.

 _'No!'_ She slammed her heels into the dirt path in front of her, and realized that she had been so lost in her thoughts and emotions that she had nearly walked to the front gates of the village. She looked around, and noticed that most people had begun to go inside for the night, and she soon found herself alone in the slowly darkening twilight.

There was a slight click, and all around her dozens of streetlamps buzzed to life, humming with a stable and calming conviction. She turned slightly, and began off in the direction of Naruto's old apartment.

 _'…No.'_

She had to stay strong, to remain steadfast, to achieve her goals - and lead their clan out of the bigoted slump that it had fallen into many years before.

 _'What would mother have wanted?'_

Hinata found herself this question with increasing frequency, and smiled. The fact that her mother had been the way she was, in the position of power that she held as wife of the Hyuuga clan leader, and held beliefs similar to Hinata's, gave her hope, and pride that there were some among the Hyuuga that had the right idea. It would be hard, and a constant uphill struggle, but she would try her best. She _had_ to.

"Something on your mind?"

Hinata jumped out of her skin, and looked up from the ground she had been staring at since she set off. To her surprise, her legs had taken her right up the front step of Naruto's old apartment building and to the entrance to his room - where another person was already sitting, leaning against the door, looking at her with concerned, and caring eyes.

"O-oh, Iruka-sensei. Good evening."

The scar-nosed chuunin watched her approach, and sighed with a smile. "Want to talk?"

Hinata looked at the ground again as her old academy instructor got to his feet, unsure of how to even begin.

After waiting for a response and not getting one, Iruka continued on softly. "I come up here to think sometimes - about all the things I could have done differently, about all the things that I still have an opportunity to do as a person in this village. It's not the most glamorous view in the world," he motioned at the wall across from Naruto's door, "But it certainly gets me thinking." Iruka sighed slightly, and turned to look at Hinata, who had begun to fidget with her fingers again.

"I still miss him every day."

Hinata jumped at the sudden change of topic, but nodded in agreement after she realized she had been completely motionless and silent since greeting the man several moments ago. She put her hand in her pocket, and fished out a small, worn, metal key. At the sight of this, Iruka frowned, and took a step back.

"Oh, you must be here by orders from the Hokage, she's the only one I know of that has a key to his place. I wouldn't want to get in your way." He turned, and as he began to take his first step towards the exit, Hinata finally worked up the nerve to say something.

"W-W-wait!"

Iruka froze, and turned back to the ivory-eyed girl.

"I-It's actually good that I ran into you here, I need t-to talk to you as well, Iruka-sensei." It was barely a hair over a whisper, but Iruka still got the message, and frowned questioningly.

She put the key in the door, and it opened with a loud squeak. She took a deep breath, and pushed forward into the musky living room.

Dust had accumulated on everything in the three years since it had last been opened, and Hinata broke out into a coughing fit as soon as she began to wander around absentmindedly, looking for a lightswitch.

She heard coughing coming from behind her, and turned to see Iruka's face sticking through the doorway. "May I come in?" He asked with a smile.

She nodded again, before finding a lamp on an endtable and throwing the switch.

The entire room was immediately bathed in a warm yellow glow, and dust particles floated through the light like ships in a foggy bay. She heard the door close behind her, and sighed quietly.

The apartment was certainly tiny, but it wasn't something that she thought was particularly bad. In fact, she found it rather cozy and inviting – after it had gone through a little bit of cleaning, that is. To the far right side of the living room was a small kitchen and dining table, where a few unopened packages of instant ramen lay buried in a sea of dust. She made her way towards the kitchen, and began to slowly and absentmindedly open the cabinets and drawers, as if trying to find something in particular.

"It's been a little over two years now, hasn't it?"

Expecting this question, Hinata didn't flinch at all, and instead slowly moved towards and sat down on one of the chairs in the living area. She nodded expressionlessly, and stared at point where the wall and the floor met in front of her.

"Something happened, didn't it." This time, the phrase came out as more of a statement rather than a question. "That's why you had the key, and why you came here." He took the chair next to hers, and looked at her with a worried expression on his face.

She knew that Iruka was like a father to Naruto, and that his influence in the boy's academy days helped stave off the darkness of being alone, and kept him off a more dangerous path. So she determined that it was in her best interest – and Naruto's best interest – to tell the man everything she knew. Now if only she could speak without working herself up too much.

Iruka watched her quizzically. Hinata had always been a shy one, so he made sure not to pressure her too much. But still, he could tell just by the aura she was giving off that something _did_ indeed happen, and if it concerned Naruto – then, well, he needed to know.

"N-Naruto…" she began, then stopped – reevaluating her decision to let Iruka in on an S-ranked secret. But Tsunade _did_ tell her to speak with Iruka on matters revolving around Naruto, and since she was the one that made it an S-ranked secret to begin with, she pressed on.

"H-he… He's alive."

* * *

Shikaku Nara grumbled a little bit, resting his chin on his left hand and muttered something under his breath about missing dinner with his family. The strategist looked around the room at the handful of people around him, trying to figure out why he had been summoned.

There were three other people in the room, which was the council chambers at the base of the Hokage tower. The large round table in the middle was more than large enough to hold them all, but Shikaku still felt it a bit strange they were using such a large room in such a distinguished place for this meeting. The chambers were lit weakly by a few small lights on the far walls, and a small chandelier that hung from the high ceiling over the wooden table they were all currently sitting at.

To his right sat his old teammate Inoichi; the blonde-haired interrogation specialist eyed him bemusedly from his seat. Three seats to his left was an ANBU captain, something that had immediately begun setting alarm bells off in Shikaku's head when he walked into the room. ' _Just what is this meeting about, anyways?'_

Sitting directly across from him at the table was the Hokage's right hand man: well, woman, actually. Shizune sat tensely, obviously waiting for other people to show up. ' _That's odd. She typically doesn't get worked up about any old thing. If she's here, then that must mean something really serious is going down.'_

Suddenly, the door burst open and in walked in a few additional people. Most notably was his own son, Shikamaru, who rolled his eyes upon seeing his father already waiting for him in the room. With his hands in his pockets, he worked his way around the table and took the seat to the left of his father.

Behind him strolled in Anko, the rather vivacious kunoichi on the interrogation team. Inoichi immediately groaned and put his head in his hands as she grinned widely and plopped down in the free seat next to him.

"Wassup, boss?" she smirked, lightly punching him in the shoulder. His head was still in his hands.

Shikaku finally decided it was time to speak up. "Do any of you know why we've been summoned? As much as I love hanging out with colleagues after work, I'd prefer to do it at a Sake bar over a game of shoji rather than in the council chambers on my day off."

Shikamaru grunted, and muttered something with the word "troublesome" in it. Shikaku could almost _hear_ his son rolling his eyes as he pressed his head into the table in front of him.

The door opened again, and in came Gai – followed closely by the Hokage herself. This definitely got the attention of everyone in the room; at least, everyone in the room that hadn't been caught up to speed yet.

"Looks like we're just waiting for Kakashi, as usual," Gai quipped with a smile as he took a seat next to Shikamaru.

Tsunade merrily grunted in agreement, and plunged down into the closest to the door, to the left of Shizune. "I hate this place. Usually when I'm here I'm getting chewed out by a bunch of old geezers who think they can run this village from their living rooms." She crossed her arms, and leaned back before closing her eyes briefly.

It only took five minutes instead of Kakashi's usual ninety for him to show up – another red flag, Shikaku thought.

He poked his head in the door, giving his patented eye smile. "Good, you're all here."

He walked in, and looked over at the ANBU captain who hadn't moved since Shikaku had arrived. "Tenzo, for this mission, you're going to need to pose as a typical jonin instructor, so you might as well start by taking off the mask now."

The man identified as Tenzo nodded, before reaching up and pulling the painted ANBU mask off his face, leaving behind a face protector with the Leaf Village emblem etched on the top. He placed the mask on the table, followed by his interlaced fingers, and leaned forward slightly.

Shikaku raised an eyebrow, watching the ANBU operative slightly. He looked familiar, but he couldn't place it quite yet.

Kakashi sat down to the right of Shizune, and pulled a few pieces of paper from his flak jacket. "Now, I'm sure most of you are wondering why you're here. It's complicated, but this meeting was called to discuss Naruto Uzumaki."

Inoichi frowned, his head no longer in his hands. ' _Right to business,'_ Shikaku smirked, observing his teammate closely. "I'm sorry, did you just say Naruto Uzumaki? What's so important about a dead kid?"

Shizune winced at his blunt phrasing, before looking at the Hokage. Tsunade was leaning forward now as well, her face looking rather serious and contemplative. Finally, she spoke, as no one else seemed to want to continue.

The slug princess countered Inoichi's harsh statement with one of her own, one that made everyone but Gai, Kakashi, and Shizune jump slightly.

"Naruto Uzumaki is still alive."

* * *

"Wh…what did you just say?!" Iruka jumped back in his chair slightly, a wide eyed expression of doubt, terror, sadness, and glee clashing for real estate on his face.

Hinata only winced, before nodding. "W-we ran into him and another Akatsuki member in an attempt to rescue Lord Gaara." Her voice was barely above a whisper, but it was strong and composed – something that Iruka was not expecting, considering the topic of conversation. Then, the weight of her words came crashing down on him.

"Wait, did you just say Akatsuki? Naruto joined up with the Akatsuki?!"

Hinata shifted her gaze to the floor now, and nodded again.

"Wh-What? How? Where? When? But..." Iruka's mind went into overdrive, and he was starting to burn himself out.

"H-he's not the kind, loving soul we remember him as, sensei," Hinata said with a great deal of sadness in her voice. She could feel the tears in her eyes begin to well up as she went on. "S-s-something h-happened to him… something's _changed him_ …"

The look of shock on her face as she said this gave away that she, too, didn't believe it – and yet Iruka could tell that she saw him with her own two eyes. And if Hinata says it was him, then come hell or high water, it was him.

Snapping out of it, Iruka saw the girl in front of her struggling emotionally, and, pushing his own emotions aside, donned the demeanor that he used so often in order to comfort troubled academy students.

"Why don't you start from the beginning? It could help let you process it yourself if you let it out," he suggested with a warm smile.

Hinata nodded, sniffled, and to Iruka's surprise, smiled. "Now I can see why Naruto trusted you so much… loved you so much…" her voice was back to a whisper. But she didn't care. She was actually able to open up a little bit with her old teacher, and that was a very comforting feeling – to not have to struggle alone.

Suddenly, Hinata realized something – ' _Was this what Naruto had to endure for the majority of his life? This feeling of absolute dread, knowing that your pain and suffering began and ended with yourself?'_ She froze, wide-eyed, as the realization hit her like a powerful wave.

"W-we were trying to stop the Akatsuki from kidnapping the Kazekage…" she continued, fidgeting with her hands. "when we ran into him and Sasori of the Red Sand. Sasori tried to attack the old woman that was with us at the time, but…" A look of shock blitzed across her face again, "N-Naruto… Kyuubi… whatever that person calls himself now… he destroyed the puppets that Granny Chiyo summoned to fight against Sasori without even moving."

Iruka, wide-eyed, stared down at Hinata. "Kyuubi? What do you mean 'whatever he calls himself now'?"

Hinata looked back up at the wall, still weaving her index fingers around one another nervously. "W-we called him N-N-Naruto, and he laughed like it was an old childhood n-nickname." She sniffled again. "He said his name was Kyuubi, b-but that person was definitely Naruto."

"Kyuubi… the Nine-Tails." Iruka grunted in surprise. "I can't believe that Naruto gave into that thing. I _won't_ believe it."

Hinata shook her head. "N-no, we don't think that's w-what happened," she stated, wiping her eyes off with her sleeve. Even though she had stopped crying, the buildup of tears had begun to annoy her, and distort her vision. Not like she was staring at anything important anyway – just the wall, and, occasionally, her fingers when she realized she was doing her nervous tick. "Before he left… he threw an old book down to K-Kakashi-sensei. It was a training journal from Master Jiraiya, and it said that some sealing jutsu was cast upon the Nine-Tails during their attempts to allow N-Naruto to tap into it's chakra."

Iruka clicked his tongue, and leaned back a bit. "Well, it sounds to me like that's where everything went wrong, regardless of what Lord Jiraiya said happened. That old geezer was definitely a proud one, and probably wouldn't want to fess up to any mistakes. At least, not right away." He smirked, and the frowned as he remembered the fate that befell the legendary Sannin. "I suppose we'll never know now anyways."

The Hyuuga girl murmured in agreement, then jumped slightly, remembering why she was here. "R-right! I was told to ask you if you might be able to tell me what could have caused N-Naruto to betray the Hidden Leaf so easily. That was also why I was s-sent here, in order to try and f-find information that might help us."

Iruka grinned, and stood up. "Well, you could probably use some help trudging through this garbage heap, Naruto wasn't ever one to keep a tidy and organized home – or life for that matter." He chuckled, remembering how flustered Naruto was in his academy days, especially in his efforts to master the basic clone jutsu.

Hinata giggled to herself slightly as well, remembering all too well how her friend was in school and elsewhere. "Th-thank you, Iruka-sensei." She said with a smile, before standing up as well.

The chuunin instructor clapped his hands together, and smiled. "Okay! Let's see here." He began to rummage through the cupboards, then smirked slightly. "I'll bet you a month's pay that the crazy fool kept some 'inspiration' for that sexy jutsu of his around here somewhere." After Hinata laughed a little and blushed, he rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't think those two realized how similar they were, no matter how much Naruto denied it."

* * *

"The Akatsuki?!" Shikamaru stared at the Hokage with a pale, almost sickly expression on his face. "You can't be serious-"

"I'm afraid so," she replied coldly. "I honestly am just as surprised as all of you are."

Shikaku placed his hands on the table in front of him. "I see," he stated expressionlessly.

He knew the sort of influence that Naruto had on his son, back before he left with Jiraiya. Shikamaru didn't typically like praising anyone – but the jinchuuriki was a one-time exception to that rule, something that Shikaku noticed immediately. ' _To earn my son's praise, especially with the burden he carries – that is quite impressive.'_

Kakashi rummaged through a few of the papers he had haphazardly tossed on the table in front of him, before picking one up and looking it over tersely and speaking again. "Here's what we know so far. Master Jiraiya, during their training away from the village, introduced some sort of foreign seal to Naruto, in an attempt to allow him to safely and effortlessly draw upon the Nine-Tails' chakra as if it were his own. At least," Kakashi picked up another sheet of paper, with some scribbled notes jotted down on it, "that's what we think, anyway. The journal that Jiraiya left behind didn't bother to identify this sealing jutsu, only that it was discovered somewhere along their journey, and that Jiraiya had to tinker with it in order to get it to work with the 8 Trigrams Seal that Minato-sensei placed on Naruto back when the Nine-Tails attack happened initially."

Kakashi attempted to hide the grimace that dashed across the uncovered portion of his face, but failed – he had just called the Fourth Hokage something unbefitting of his honor, and it was merrily due to a slip of the tongue.

"Lord Fourth's seal, however, we do have access to," Kakashi continued, attempting to rectify his mistake from before. "Inoichi and Anko, you're here because after Master Jiraiya, the interrogation division of ANBU has the best knowledge of sealing jutsus. After the meeting is over, I want you two to look over the 8 Trigrams Seal that was used on the Nine-Tails, and try and find any noticeable weaknesses that could be exploited by using a second seal concurrently." Anko and Inoichi nodded, and began jotting down notes of their own.

"Now, as for the rest of the story – that's where we'd like Sakura and Shikamaru to come in. As soon as you can, Shikamaru," Kakashi turned his attention over to the Nara clan heir, "I want you and Sakura to pour over the notebook that Naruto left us, and try and find any additional clues or messages that were hidden within it. It's not much to go on, but it's certainly a start."

Tsunade interjected after Kakashi stopped to reorganize his papers again. "Look for anything – frequency of letters, strange occurrences of numbers in places where there shouldn't be any, anything at all that looks suspicious." She narrowed her eyes, looking at the boy. "Jiraiya was a crafty bastard, so be sure to be careful as well. Although I didn't see any from my quick flip-through of the journal, there could be something there that's dangerous. So be on your guard."

Shikamaru nodded, completely serious now. "I understand, Lady Hokage. When should I start?"

"Well, I sent Sakura out to find you immediately after Kakashi and his team returned from their mission," she stated with a frown. "But I didn't realize that Kakashi had already commissioned you for this taskforce as well. So meet up with her tomorrow, I'm sure she'll be looking for you."

"I understand," Shikamaru repeated, before looking back over at Kakashi, who seemed to have all of his ducks in a row once again.

"Right. Hopefully we can use any information gleaned from this search to help aid us in the main purpose of this missiom – to capture Naruto Uzumaki and bring him back to the Leaf at all costs."

More shocked looks from around the room; even Tsunade seemed to have her doubts. "I trust you know what you're doing, Kakashi."

The copy-nin nodded, before elaborating. "If anything, his presence in the Akatsuki is a short one – if they are planning on using the Tailed Beasts as some kind of controllable weapon, Naruto might be betrayed in order to steal the Nine-Tails away from him. Even if he has unlocked the full power of the bijuu, which from the look of things, he has – the Akatsuki are a criminal organization comprised of a dozen or so S-class mercenaries. I doubt even he could defend himself from them so easy."

Confusion across the room, as Kakashi paused for a moment to let his words sink in a little. "Especially with people like Itachi Uchiha in their ranks, who can most likely control the Tailed Beast inside him with his sharingan capabilities. Therefore, it is in Naruto's best interest that we 'rescue' him from the Akatsuki." He stopped again, and looked at his notes. "Also, as much as I hate to admit it, there's the obvious fact that without a jinchuuriki, the Hidden Leaf village is at a significant disadvantage compared to the other Hidden villages."

He looked over at Tsunade, who looked like she was about to angrily respond to Kakashi's blunt honesty, but he spoke up before she did. "I know as much as you do, Lady Hokage, that Naruto, or any jinchuuriki for that matter, is not a weapon. They're people. But that won't stop other nations from trying to use the power vacancy to their advantage. I know that the Hidden Cloud village has long since used Jinchuuriki as excuses to antagonize other countries."

Tsunade closed her mouth, and nodded, admitting that he was right.

"Alright then, what's the plan?"

* * *

Gaara fell onto the floor – hard. His lifeless body lay limp in the shadow of a massive multi-eyed statue, as a conglomeration of cloaked figures shimmered above him.

"Excellent work, everyone," announced the purple-eyed one.

"Ugh, if it took that long for the One-Tails, I can't imagine how long it'll start to take for the rest," groaned a tall figure. On his back was a large three-bladed scythe. "I've been sitting on this rock for so long, my ass is starting to kill me."

"Shut up, Hidan," slammed a masked figure. "The sooner we can capture and seal the Tailed Beasts, the sooner we can get out there and begin collecting more bounties. Our coffers are abysmal right now."

"No, _you_ shut the hell up, Kakazu!" roared Hidan. "I'm sick and tired of you only ever giving a damn about money! Why don't you pull that giant stick out of your a-"

"Silence, both of you!" came the voice of the purple-eyed one again. "The time for bounty hunting and… _leisure_ will be upon us soon enough. But for now, we need to focus on the task at hand. With the One-Tails sealed, we can begin our hunt for the other jinchuuriki."

"I would recommend skipping over the Two-Tails, Lord Pain." A pair of sharingan eyes pierced purple ringed ones. "The Two-Tails and Eight-Tails jinchuuriki are both quite loyal to the Hidden Cloud, and both have reasonable control over their Tailed Beasts. To attack one would be to attack both."

A roar of unadulterated laughter erupted in the cavern. "That? You call _that_ reasonable control?"

The sharingan moved off of Pain and onto the shorter, crimson-eyed figure across the room. "Oh?"

"We're going to have to take them on at some point anyway, right? So why wait?" the red-eyed boy cooed with his multi-layered voice.

"Are you volunteering, Kyuubi?" smirked a large sharklike figure. "Even at your full power, I highly doubt you can take on the entirety of the Hidden Cloud, as well as two fully-trained jinchuuriki."

Kyuubi grinned back, revealing a set of white, wolflike teeth. "Give me three days."

And with that, he vanished.


	5. Chapter 5: Destruction

_*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*_

* * *

 _ **Transformation**_ **Arc:**

 **Chapter 5 - Destruction**

* * *

"Shikamaru? Shikamaru! There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!"

The ponytailed boy turned his head lazily, hands still in pockets. "Oh, Sakura. I was told you were looking for me."

It was now the next day – and the two of them were standing off to the side of the Leaf Village's largest market squares. Shikamaru was in the process of heading to the library to do some research of his own on seals and sealing jutsus – but welcomed the intrusion that meant he didn't have to do any _real_ reading today.

But honestly, he loved it. And especially now that he knew Naruto was on the line, he took it more seriously as well.

Not that he'd ever let anyone know it.

He yawned as the pink-haired kunoichi ran up to him with a book in her hand. "Ah, so that's the book we're going to be going through then?"

Sakura nodded, holding it up. "Yep, this is Master Jiraiya's training diary – it has a few entries about what the two of them had been working on together." She opened up to the first page, and looked it over again, as if to make sure the book she was carrying was the right one. After a few moments, she snapped it closed again, and looked back up at Shikamaru. "Right. Where do you think we should go to do this? Probably somewhere quiet," she nearly shouted, looking around at the mob of people walking around her.

The boy merrily nodded. "How about the library? I was headed there anyway." Before waiting for an answer, he began walking, and Sakura stayed hot on his heels.

As the crowd around them began to recede, and they could finally start to hear birds chirping again, Shikamaru finally asked the question that had been troubling him since he met with the Naruto Retrieval Taskforce night before.

"So, is it really him?"

Sakura only murmured, before nodding once or twice. "Yeah. It was really kind of a surreal experience. We didn't realize it was him until he was right on top of us."

"To be honest, I'm surprised he didn't kill you," Shikamaru said bluntly, with a tinge of worry in his voice. "If what everyone is saying is true, then that means the seal probably failed, and whatever is controlling his body is most likely _not_ Naruto."

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. That's why I seriously think that part of Naruto still exists in there somewhere. We just have to find it and drag it out." She smiled. "Kicking and screaming, knowing Naruto."

Shikamaru chuckled lightly. "Yeah, he certainly always has been troublesome."

Shikamaru stopped for a moment, remembering something. "Wait, Sakura, there's someone else I want to bring along as well, if that's okay with you."

"Oh? And who might that be?" came a voice from behind them. Sakura jumped, not sensing the presence of another person until after he spoke. Shikamaru just chuckled a little to himself and kept walking.

"Kakashi-sensei, pleasure of you to join us."

The jonin simply smiled, and followed behind them.

After they were joined by Kakashi, the time it took to reach the library seemed like a blink of an eye. Before they knew it, they had meandered their way into the library and through the maze of hallways and doors until they found what they were looking for – a large room in the far back of the library, embedded in the rock, with a pair of large, solitary windows in the back warmly illuminating the space with the embrace of the shining afternoon sun.

The room was an impressive one – Each wall was covered in scrolls and parchments containing many important documents for the Leaf: things like jutsu formulas, history of famous ninja, and crucial mission reports from years ago. Bookshelves stuck out from the walls in various places, expanding the surface area of knowledge that was laid out before them. In the center of the room were two medium-sized round tables, one of which was already occupied by reading shinobi. Upon their entrance, however, the ninja took their leave, after noticing Kakashi among the new arrivals.

Sakura glanced over at her sensei with a quizzical look on her face, and he only shrugged. "Well, I _was_ told that this room had been reserved for us."

After the three took their seats next to one another at one of the tables, Sakura placed the journal in front of them. But Shikamaru looked over at Kakashi instead.

"I trust you brought the books I asked for you to bring?" He asked politely, and Kakashi smiled and reached around to the pouch on his waist. He pulled out a series of books, each a different pastel color, and laid them on the table beside the notebook.

Sakura sweatdropped when she recognized the titles. "The Icha Icha series? Really, Shikamaru?"

The boy smiled slightly and nodded at Kakashi. "Yeah, I figured that if we were going to be looking for clues in Jiraiya's writing, it would be a good idea to have some additional examples on hand." Then he frowned, and stood up suddenly. "Although it would look like you're missing one, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi looked up with an alarmed expression on his face. "No, I brought my entire collection! I have them all. If Master Jiraiya had released another sequel, I would have heard about it!"

Shikamaru laughed to himself a little, stood up, and walked to the far wall of the room. After looking through the series of books on the shelf, he finally found what he was looking for, grabbed it, and walked back to the table.

"Tales of a Gutsy Ninja?" Sakura asked, upon picking up the brown book that Shikamaru had tossed in front of them. "What's this for?"

"That was Master Jiraiya's first book – and a rather important one," he replied with a sly smile. "For a lot of reasons."

"Then why haven't I heard of it?" inquired the girl, after flipping it to a random page and reading the first few lines. "Wait… Naruto? Was this book written about Naruto?"

Kakashi, after recovering from the shock of potentially _missing_ a new Icha Icha book's release, looked over at what Sakura was holding, and smiled. "Ah, I remember now. No, Sakura, it was actually the other way around." After seeing the quizzical looks on both the chunin's faces, Kakashi sighed, and placed his hands on the table. "I shouldn't really say much more than that."

"Wait… does that mean that you knew who Naruto's parents were?" Shikamaru asked, shocked. "Why haven't you said anything before now?"

"Because it's still considered an S-ranked secret in the Hidden Leaf, one that is punishable by death if revealed. Not even I can reveal it without facing the consequences." Kakashi sighed, adjusted his forehead protector, and leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms. "Although I do have to admit that not many people know their true identity."

Kakashi fell silent, and Shikamaru accepted the fact that they weren't going to be getting any more information out of the white haired ninja for the time being. "Very well then. I say we start working on the task at hand then, wouldn't you agree?"

Sakura nodded, still frowning from being kept in the dark. Kakashi gave an eye-smile, and Shikamaru murmured to himself as he opened to the first page of the journal, and began to read.

* * *

It wasn't a particularly pleasant day in the Hidden Cloud village – the winds had picked up as they whipped through the mountains, rattling windows and forcing many people inside after only a few hours.

This, of course, didn't stop the Raikage, A, from storming out into the training grounds on the outskirts of the village in order to scold his younger brother. After seeing the furious village patriarch approach, Killer Bee gulped, and attempted to hide behind a series of rocks on the far side of the mesa he was training at.

After a few moments of silence, Bee let out a sigh, and rapped to himself internally. ' _That was a close one, eh Gyuuki? I wonder what my big brother wants with me.'_

"Would you stop playing around? Go talk to him. Hiding from him will only make him angrier," replied the exasperated Eight-Tails.

As if on cue, the mound of rocks that Bee was hiding behind exploded in a blast of pure strength – revealing a furious Raikage.

"BEE! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" roared the shirtless man. His body was crackling with lightning, and his eyes bore into his brother's.

"Oh, hey big bro - how you doin'? I'm just here trying to keep my skills from falling to ruin," answered Bee with a cheeky smile.

This only seemed to infuriate the man even further. "I TOLD YOU TO STAY INSIDE! SOMEONE OUT THERE IS HUNTING JINCHUURIKI – THE KAZEKAGE HAS ALREADY BEEN CAPTURED! THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN TO YOU AND YUGITO! I FORBID IT!"

Bee gulped, and scratched the back of his head. "Oh, right, I forgot about that! How about I go ahead and rejoin that cat?"

A grumbled, and turned around, satisfied that his brother had finally gotten the message. But he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a black-cloaked boy standing in front of him, grinning wildly, with a crazed look in his eye.

Bee gulped again – he hadn't sensed the approach of this child at all.

"Bee, you need to get out of here. Now." This was the most serious that Bee had ever heard Gyuuki be. "That boy… that's-"

"Who the hell are you?!" shouted the Raikage, as his body became completely engulfed in crackling bolts of lightning. This only made the boy smile wider, as a demonic laugh escaped his lips and rang out around the clearing.

"Who I am is not important. What's important is that you come with me, Eight-Tails," stated the boy, in a voice that seemed to take on the properties of two different tones.

Bee shivered upon hearing the child talk, and took a step back.

"Bee, that's the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. And from the looks of things, he isn't alive. That child isn't in control anymore. You have to move! You can't win this!"

"How wrong you are," smirked the boy. Bee jumped. ' _I was talking to Gyuuki, inside my own head! How in the world-'_

"Although you _were_ right about the second part. You _can't_ win this. Give up now, or I'll destroy your entire village." The crazed look in Kyuubi's eye became a serious one, as he stared the furious Raikage in the eye. "Do we have a deal?"

"AKATSUKI! HOW DARE YOU!" barked A, and he lunged forward at a speed unmatched by any shinobi in the entire world.

Or so he thought.

The boy simply stepped to the side, hands behind his back, and turned to look at the disorientated man that now stood behind him.

"I see. So that's your answer then." Kyuubi chuckled to himself, and looked up at Bee with a gaze that chilled his soul. "I warned you."

"Kyuubi! Wait! What are you doing?" came Gyuuki's voice from Bee's mouth. "Why are you working for those fools? They're using you – whatever the Akatsuki have told you, it's a lie! I thought you were smarter than this!"

Kyuubi let out a roar of laughter, one that was inhuman. After a few moments, he tilted his head at Bee, and spoke softly. "Oh, I know allllll about the Akatsuki's plans for us Tailed Beasts. And you know what? I don't care. This world is nothing to me, and none of its people concern me in the slightest."

He turned, and began walking over to where the Raikage was still fuming, having not moved since failing his attack on the cloaked boy in front of him. Or rather, semi-cloaked. His robes were tattered and mangled, much like his body. ' _What the hell is this kid? What have the Akatsuki done to him? This is unforgiveable!_ ' fumed A. ' _How dare they do this to a child!'_

"Oh my," grinned Kyuubi. "Your hatred is rather pungent. If I wasn't going to kill you now, I'd almost be willing to keep you around, because it is _intoxicating_." His eyes widened as he approached the man. "It's a shame, really. Hatred is the purest emotion, and it cleanses the soul."

Each subtle _clack_ of the boy's sandals on the rocky surface of the mountaintop rattled the earth, and red, violent chakra began leaking out from around him, swirling in a vortex on the ground at his feet. "Learning to capitalize on that, and feed it, is a great strength."

The loose rocks on the ground began to rattle, then bounce, then fly into the air, following the current of chakra that began to wrap around the boy like a tornado. Blood-red power surged around him, flowing up into the sky, which was rapidly darkening and swirling as well. The winds that had been so bad earlier completely stopped, and began to circulate around with the flow of chakra, increasing with intensity after each passing second.

The Raikage just stood there, watching the tremendous amount of power being exhibited before him with a look of anger. A look of disgust.

A look of _fear._

"Hmm, I wonder which I shall destroy first," cooed the child from within the vortex, still approaching the man standing before him. "The _Raikage_ , or the precious village he strives to protect from the likes of me."

He donned a look of mock hurt. "Oh, is that _fear_ I'm sensing? How _PITIFUL!"_

He screamed the last word, and a massive surge of chakra exploded out of him, making his entire body glow and his orange hair blow upwards, seemingly away from the flames that had ignited in his eyes.

* * *

From the perspective of the village below them, it looked like a giant orange-red beam of light had descended around the training grounds that everyone knew Lord Killer Bee frequented. No one had really thought anything of it, until the clouds above them began to circulate and spiral around the beam as well, darkening the sky to a light level that began to worry the village elite.

Yugito Nii looked up from her scroll on advanced Fire Style ninjutsu and glanced out her apartment window. ' _That's odd… I don't remember seeing stormclouds developing in the sky earlier this morning when I went for my walk.'_ A crackle of lightning blitzed across the sky, and Yugito grimaced. ' _What is that Raikage doing now? He knows it's not safe to practice his Lightning Style attacks within the village walls.'_

Then Yugito sensed that the Nibi inside of her was growing restless. Descending into her mindscape, she approached the Demon Cat with a worried expression on her face. "Is there something wrong, Matatabi?"

"This chakra…" muttered the beast, looking around frantically. Finally, she realized that her jinchuuriki was before her, and stared at her with an expression that Yugito had never seen the Nibi wear before.

It was fear.

"Kitten, you need to leave immediately. It's not safe here. That power-" Matatabi was cut off when a massive surge of chakra rocketed outwards in all directions, which forced Yugito back out into the real world. She leaned out her window completely and gaped at what she saw.

A massive beam of red chakra was orbiting around the near side of Bee's training grounds, swirling like a tornado.

"What… what? What is that?"

"Kitten, you must leave NOW!" shouted Matatabi. "For both our sakes! That chakra – it's Kurama!"

Yugito was now thoroughly worried. Nothing ever scared her Tailed Beast… not even her more vibrant sparring sessions with Lord Bee.

"Kurama?" she asked. "Who's that?"

"The Nine-Tails. I don't know why he's here, but this is bad. He's amassing so much chakra-"

Another blast of power burst from the base of the tower of light, and a large purple orb began to form in the sky, absorbing the chakra that flowed over it.

Yugito began to feel sick. This was bad – she didn't have to have Nibi explain it to her.

"It's too late, Kitten," cried Nibi from inside of her. "Hold on, I'll do what I can to spare our lives."

She closed her eyes as chakra leaked out of her body, enveloping her in a cocoon of energy.

* * *

"Bee, you need to run! Now!" shouted Gyuuki. "If that tailed beast bomb hits us from this distance, we won't survive!"

"Tailed beast bomb, you say?" murmured Bee. "But that would mean-"

"YES! NOW RUN!"

A few yards away, the Raikage was quaking in his boots. The demon boy was still approaching him, slowly but surely, and cackling with glee.

"You or your village? You or your village?" he kept repeating, as the mass of purple energy surged ever larger.

A looked up at the orb, which was now the size of a city block. ' _That's…'_

Suddenly, the boy stopped, with a surprised expression on his face. "I've got it!" he exclaimed.

He leaned forward, and stared the Raikage dead in the eyes with his cold, hardened, lifeless gaze.

"I'll just destroy both at once."

And he threw the orb.

* * *

Sakura sat down again, after having gotten up to leaf through some scrolls on cryptography and hidden messages. Kakashi had picked up one of his Icha Icha books with good intentions, but got engrossed in the story and began reading it again.

Shikamaru, however, was leafing through the empty pages of the journal, hoping to find some clues or other indications of additional writing that was hidden away.

A heartbeat.

Sakura leaned over to grab a pen and paper to jot some notes down from her reading earlier, when she noticed her sensei drop his book.

It fell from his unmoved hand, bounced off the edge of the table, and landed in a crumpled heap on the floor, pages bent and askew.

What she saw next sent shivers down her spine. Kakashi's visible eye was wide open, a look of terror across his unexposed face. He was shaking slightly, but his hand was still up in front of his face, like he was still reading. But he was staring instead out the window and into the village before them.

Shikamaru had noticed the book's tragic fate as well, and was also now staring at Kakashi with a worried expression on his face. "Kakashi-sensei?"

Another heartbeat.

"What just happened?" Kakashi whispered. Sakura shivered. She had never seen her sensei this worried before.

"…Kakashi-sen-"

Shikamaru's repeated question was interrupted by a mild earthquake. It rattled the glass in the library, and reverberated through the walls, shaking loose dozens of books and scrolls from the walls around them.

The tremors lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough to cause a small amount of damage to the fragile glass panes on the wall – a large crack ran down each, like lightning bolts. Sakura got up to replace the books on the shelves, while neither Kakashi nor Shikamaru moved. Kakashi was still frozen and shaking, while Shikamaru was still watching him, trying to get him to explain what was wrong.

"Kakashi-sensei? Hello? Are you okay?" the ponytailed boy snapped his fingers in front of the jonin's face a few times, trying to snap him out of it. "Kakashi-sensei?"

The copy-nin, closed his eye, and let out a deep sigh, looking down at the ground. After a few moments, he looked back up again, eye still closed, and stood up.

"Something just happened. I don't know what, but something big – and very bad – just happened."


	6. Chapter 6: Naruto the Gallant (Pt 1)

_*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*_

* * *

 _ **Transformation**_ **Arc:**

 **Chapter 6 – The Tale of Naruto the Gallant (Part I)**

* * *

"Wait a second."

"What is it, Shikamaru? Did you find something?"

Idly flipping through the pages of Jiraiya's journal, something had caught the eye of the Nara boy.

It had been at least 3 hours since the strange earthquake incident, and although he hated to admit it, Kakashi had determined that it was in his best interest to stay and help the two chuunin try to decode whatever hidden messages that could reside within the book. At least, until he was instructed otherwise.

In the meantime, however, the copy-nin's attention drifted back to his favorite Icha Icha novel – and was engrossed in a rather… _heated_ chapter when Shikamaru spoke up.

"Hmm? Hmm! Find anything interesting, Shikamaru?"

The boy rolled his eyes, and flipped open the journal. In front of him was a scroll on intermediate sealing jutsus. He had found the scroll on the ground after the earthquake had dislodged it earlier – and it had rather piqued his interest. One section of the document had caught his eye.

"What do we know about sealing jutsus?" Shikamaru asked rhetorically. After flipping past the last page of writing and moving through the empty pages in the book, he stopped on the two bloodsoaked pages towards the back.

Kakashi blinked, and set his book down. ' _Well then, from the tone in his voice, I think he thinks he's cracked it.'_

"Humor us," said a very annoyed Sakura. "Just spit it out already. We're on the clock here."

Shikamaru sighed, muttered 'Troublesome', and set the book down, still open to the two bloodsoaked pages. He took his index finger, channeled a little chakra into the end, and touched the first red page.

To the surprise of both Sakura and Kakashi, a faint seal glowed from within the bloody mess.

"What? How…?" Sakura said, obviously flabbergasted. She had spent twenty minutes earlier trying to find anything within those very same pages.

"See, you should have let me finish," grumbled Shikamaru, before taking his finger off of the page. "Sealing Jutsus are unique, in that they typically use blood and chakra-infused ink to work." He then pointed to the scroll he was referencing. "It's actually possible to _only_ use blood for the writing, although it requires a significantly higher amount of chakra to work."

Sakura still looked confused. "But wouldn't the rest of the blood on the page ruin the seal once it was saturated?"

"Not necessarily. As long as the seal was formed first, you could theoretically write all over it and it wouldn't matter. A little more blood on top does a good job at hiding the seal, and making it harder to find."

"Huh." Sakura leaned back in her chair, frowning, still thinking. "Well, alright then. What kind of seal was that?"

Shikamaru pressed his finger back down on the paper, and this time took note of the shape and size of the seal. "Unfortunately, I have no idea."

"I do," Kakashi smiled, leaning forward. "As a matter of fact, I know that exact seal quite well. I wonder who got ahold of instructions to Minato-sensei's memory seal?"

"Memory seal?" Shikamaru and Sakura both looked up at the jonin.

Kakashi nodded. "Oh yes. It's quite easy to make, but requires quite a bit of chakra. It allows people to store their memories down on paper, granting them the ability to physically store their thoughts, emotions, feelings, and sensations in the real world."

"But how do you know about all of this? You mentioned a Minato-sensei?" Sakura cocked an eyebrow.

"Oh! Of course, silly of me to think you would know of Minato by that name. You probably are more familiar with his job title, 'Fourth Hokage'," smiled Kakashi.

Sakura gasped, looking back at the seal. "The Fourth Hokage?"

Shikamaru looked up with a look of mild surprise. "I thought that name sounded familiar."

The copy-nin nodded. "Yep. He was my jonin instructor back when I was still a freshly recruited shinobi. Haven't I told… you this… already?" He frowned, looked down quizzically, thinking to himself.

Sakura sweatdropped. "No, No… I'm pretty sure I would have remembered something as important as the Fourth Hokage being your sensei, Kakashi-sensei," she stated sarcastically.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Kakashi smiled weakly, before regaining his composure slightly. "Sensei used this jutsu to help train us whenever he had to go out on solo missions in the war, and we stayed back in the village. It was marked as a forbidden technique due to the astronomical chakra requirements in order to store memories longer than a few seconds."

"Astronomical chakra requirements that someone, say, with a Tailed Beast and Uzumaki blood would be able to meet quite easily?" remarked Shikamaru.

Kakashi smiled slightly and nodded. "It would seem so. Although I have no idea how he could have learned it. The scroll is locked up in the Hokage's personal vault, along with many other forbidden jutsus. There's no way Naruto could have snuck back into the village undetected, then break into the vault and steal the scroll. Someone would have noticed him - or at the very least, the missing scroll during weekly vault inspections."

"Well, at least we know what it does. Is there any way to activate it, Kakashi-sensei?" The Nara boy looked up from the intricate lettering of the slightly glowing seal, and glanced at the exposed eye of the White-haired shinobi.

"And should we activate it now? Shouldn't we wait for the Hokage to be here as well before we release the seal?"

Kakashi shook his head, still smiling. "That's the genius of this jutsu – it can be replayed dozens of times before the seal begins to fade. And personally, with everything that's been going on around here, I don't think we should bother the Hokage with something that we aren't sure is even valuable. It is in our best interest to view the contents of the seal first, validate their importance, then report to Lady Hokage for her to look it over as well."

"I can understand that," nodded Shikamaru, before he rolled up the scroll and set it aside. "Is there anything in particular we need to do to prepare for this?"

"And what does it feel like?" squirmed Sakura. She was really hoping it wasn't going to make her nauseous.

"Don't worry, you two," smirked Kakashi. "All you have to do is touch the center of the seal, and it'll start to play back its contents to everyone within a 5 foot radius. And it just feels like you're looking through someone else's eyes for a while, that's all, Sakura." He then gave an eye smile. "Although it _is_ a bit weird to hear someone else's thoughts in your head, and a voice that isn't your own speaking."

Sakura gulped. ' _I should have brought some motion sickness tablets,'_ she thought to herself, before sitting up straight and nodding. "Alright then, I'm ready."

Shikamaru sighed, and pressed his index finger into the swirl pattern in the middle of the seal. "Here goes nothing."

 _A pair of eyes opened and closed groggily a few times, and two arms stretched out in front of them. A stifled yawn echoed through the small tent the person was in, followed by the two hands moving up and scratching the eyes feverishly for a moment._

 _"Oi! Naruto! Get up! We have a long day of travelling and training to get through today!"_

"Whoa! Is that Master Jiraiya?" Shikamaru marveled, as he let the sights and sounds of Naruto's memory wash over him.

"Yeah, looks like it. This must be from when they were on their training trip, before everything started to happen," replied Kakashi casually.

"Whoa…" mumbled Sakura, still in awe of the feeling she was experiencing – reliving someone else's memories.

 _"Yeah, yeah! That's what you said yesterday. Training this, traveling that! I bet all we're gonna do today is race off to another hot springs so you can spy on more women for that smut you call books, you damn pervert!"_

Naruto's voice made Sakura's heart stop for a moment. It was just as she remembered it – loud, bombastic, and littered with profanity. She smiled to herself, well aware that the other two couldn't see her. They were too busy experiencing the same moments as well.

 _"You fool! You dare antagonize the great Toad Sage Jiraiya? And this early in the morning? I'm starting to think you_ don't _want me to train you for the next two and a half years!"_

 _Naruto grumbled to himself. "Ugh, alright, fine. But you had better teach me something badass, you damn pervy sage!"_

 _Naruto pulled back the tent door, and stepped out into the sunlight. They were situated under a series of tall trees, off the trail a few hundred feet. Jiraiya was standing in front of him, already dressed, glaring at the boy._

 _Naruto rolled his eyes, and reached back into his tent for his trademark orange jumpsuit and pants. He quickly threw them on, pulled out a storage scroll, and resealed his tent inside of it._

 _"Oh, I have something very special planned for today!" grinned Jiraiya mischievously._

 _"NO WOMEN!" shouted Naruto angrily. It was obvious that this was something Naruto had to deal with on a frequent basis._

 _Jiraiya winced, and frowned. "Fine, fine. But we_ do _have to get a move on – I want to make it to the next town before lunchtime. I've heard they have a tremendous archive of old sealing jutsus and scrolls. That would certainly help in my search to figure out how to let you tap into the Nine-Tails' chakra safely."_

 _Naruto nodded, before yawning again. "Yeah, I hope we find something. We've been looking for almost two months now. I'm starting to think that we'll never find anything." 'I'm never going to get strong enough to fight off the Akatsuki at this rate,' he thought to himself with a frown._

"Now that's ironic," quipped Shikamaru.

 _Sensing Naruto's doubts, Jiraiya grinned widely. "This is it for sure! I know it is! It has to be! We'll find something! And until then, I want you to keep working on your chakra control, and Shadow Clone techniques. You can certainly improve on what you already know." He sweatdropped. "Kami knows your Shadow Clone techniques are crap."_

 _"HEY! They've worked great for me so far!" shouted Naruto. "So what if I just make a ton and send them into battle. If it gets the job done, then what does it matter!"_

 _Jiraiya conked the jinchuuriki on the head. "You idiot, it won't just 'get the job done' with the Akatsuki! You'll need to formulate a plan and be tactical when fighting them, or you'll die!"_

 _Naruto sighed again, rubbing his head. "Ow! Alright, fine. What should I do first?"_

 _The memory began to fade to black._

"Well that was worthless," Shikamaru grumbled.

"Kakashi-sensei _did_ say that it required a massive amount of chakra to make one of these seals. Maybe he didn't have enough when he made these?" wondered Sakura.

"Quiet! Both of you! There's more," stated Kakashi.

 _Another memory faded into view – this time, of a small village's marketplace. Naruto was following close behind Jiraiya as they navigated through the swarms of people shopping._

 _"Where is that library? I was told it would be right off the market square!" grouched Jiraiya, above all the noise and commotion around them._

"This must be the village they were talking about in the previous memory," mused Shikamaru.

 _"Hey, Pervy Sage, is that it?" Naruto pointed off to the left, down a small alleyway. A man had recently walked out of a small building at the end, and he had just barely caught a glimpse of a large array of bookshelves filled with scrolls behind him before the door closed._

 _"Aha! That's it alright!" exclaimed the Sannin, as they made their way through the crowd._

 _After walking into the room, Naruto was immediately hit with the smell of old parchment and aged leather – the quintessential scent of a well-frequented library._

"Wow," gaped Sakura. "I can actually smell what it felt like to be there."

Kakashi murmured in agreement. "Yeah, this jutsu is pretty incredible."

 _Naruto yawned, and immediately began to seek out a chair. After finding a nice comfy one in the back corner, nestled between a few rows of bookshelves, Jiraiya piped up._

 _"Oh no you don't! You're not just gonna sit and lounge around all day while I'm working," the Toad Sage announced, pulling a small pebble from his pocket. "You're gonna practice your chakra control all day until you get it right!"_

 _He tossed the stone to Naruto, who sweatdropped and looked up at his Master. "Again? Really? I don't think I can take much more of this."_

 _He sat down in the chair, placed the pebble on his forehead, and concentrated. After a few moments of holding the stone to his face, he moved his hand away, and the pebble stuck._

 _"How long do I have to hold this for, you old pervert?" Naruto grumbled. After not receiving a response, he began looking around at the various scrolls and parchments that surrounded him, and the rest of the building._

 _Pretty soon after, he began to feel drowsy, and as the memory began to fade, the pebble fell from his forehead and bounced on the ground._

 _The next memory began immediately after the previous – and it started with the loud roar of Jiraiya in Naruto's face._

 _"YOU FOOL! I told you to sit and hold that pebble on your forehead all day! You can't just slack off like that!"_

 _Naruto sighed and crossed his arms angrily. "You call this training?! I have been doing the same dumb exercise for the past week! I can't take it anymore! If that pebble's on my forehead for another minute, it's gonna start growing into my face!"_

 _He was still sitting on the large armchair from before, but this time there was a very angry white-haired man standing over him, holding a small scroll in his balled up hand._

 _Noticing the scroll, Naruto sat up and pointed at it. "What's that? Did you find something?"_

 _Seemingly forgetting the world of pain he was preparing his apprentice to descend into for breaking his instructions, Jiraiya sat up, and held it out in front of him with a cheeky grin. "Oh, this? This is nothing. It's only the perfect sealing jutsu that will allow you to tap completely into Nine-Tails' chakra without breaking a sweat."_

 _"WHAT?! YOU ACTUALLY FOUND SOMETHING?!" shouted Naruto. It was then that a rather attractive looking librarian rounded the corner with a very annoyed expression on her face._

 _"Excuse me, gentlemen. But this is a library. I'd appreciate it if you would not scream in here like it's a playground."_

 _"Oh, sorry, I'll tell my associate to keep it dow-"_

 _Jiraiya's half-baked apology froze up in his throat as he turned around and saw the beautiful woman in front of him. His ogling didn't last very long, however, because the librarian whacked the Sannin upside the head with the rather large book in her hand._

 _"I'll have you know that it was mostly you that was making the noise,_ sir _." She frowned at him, and turned around. "Pervert."_

 _Jiraiya immediately followed after her, trying to apologize, still yelling. 'Ugh, why did I have to get stuck with him? Why couldn't the Legendary Sannin have some other, much cooler toad guy in it?'_

Kakashi smiled to himself. ' _It's funny, if Minato had been a few decades older…'_

 _The next memory took them to a small wooded clearing – one that was significantly greener and more secluded than the first memory's. Naruto was sitting down in the middle, feet stretched out, arms propping him up from behind. In front of him was Jiraiya, holding another scroll, and reading through it intently._

 _"Are you sure you figured it out?" groaned Naruto, obviously bored beyond comprehension._

"It's funny, I can feel his boredom through the memory," chuckled Shikamaru. "Maybe if I learned this sealing jutsu, people would finally see how troublesome life is from my perspective."

"Shush!" Sakura hissed, obviously still trying to pay attention to the memory.

 _"Yes! Well, I think so!" grinned Jiraiya from above the scroll. "I had to modify this seal so that it wouldn't conflict with the Eight Trigrams one you already have, so I had to rewrite some of it. But otherwise, it should do exactly as it was intended to do."_

 _"Ehh, what exactly does it do again?" Naruto asked cheekily._

 _"FOOL! Why don't you ever listen to me when I talk to you?!" bellowed the Toad Sage._

 _"What was that?" Naruto grinned, obviously joking around at this point._

 _Jiraiya's head seemed to heat up considerably, and Naruto could have sworn he heard a tea kettle whistling. Then, he let out a long sigh, and chuckled twice to himself._

 _"You really are a piece of work, you know that, kid?" smirked Jiraiya. "Now, as I said before – this sealing jutsu is a special one. It was designed to help tame untamable wild beasts, such as the many large creatures that frequent this forest and the forest around the village we were just at. The clans there came up with this seal to incapacitate them. It is said to render the creature emotionless and in an almost brain-dead state, for as long as the seal lasts."_

Kakashi whistled. "Well then, Jiraiya, I was right it seems. You _were_ meddling with forces that were above even you. The Kyuubi isn't just some forest animal."

 _"But the Nine-Tails isn't just a big ass pig!" grumbled Naruto, as if he had heard Kakashi's comment._

 _"Imbecile! You think I don't know that! The Nine-Tails is the most powerful of the Tailed Beasts. This will only incapacitate him slightly. But it should be enough time to draw out a considerable amount of his chakra, and store it elsewhere within you."_

 _Naruto nodded. He couldn't hope to ever understand the complicated details and various idiosyncrasies of the seal Jiraiya was talking about. But he could at least understand what to do once the seal was in place. "Alright then. I'm ready whenever you are."_

 _He stood up, and took off his jacket and mesh shirt, exposing the preexisting seal on his stomach._

 _Jiraiya looked at him for a moment, then nodded too. "Alright then. I'm only going to put the least powerful version of the seal in place, in case something goes wrong. We don't want to kill the Nine-Tails."_

 _"But I thought you said the Nine-Tails couldn't die!" Naruto said with a confused look on his face._

 _"He can't! Well, he can't die in the traditional sense…" Jiraiya trailed off, before snapping back to reality, and laying the sealing scroll on the forest floor in front of him. "Well, here goes nothing."_

 _Jiraiya extended his right hand, pulling his sleeve back to his elbow. A faint glow began to emanate from his fingertips, and small and convoluted symbols appeared down his arm. He took a step towards Naruto, and plunged his hand into the boy's stomach, directly on top of the Eight Trigrams Seal._

 _"Four Points, Untamed Beast Seal!" He shouted, blasting Naruto back several yards and into a tree._

 _His vision began to blur, and a hot, fiery burning sensation began to spread throughout his body…_

The memory went black for a moment, and the three ninja were sitting around the library table once again.

"Four Points… Untamed Beast Seal…" muttered Kakashi, as he took a pen from his Jonin flak jacket and began scribbling on the blank page at the end of his Icha Icha novel. At this point, the intel they were receiving from the memory seal was far more valuable than his book.

"Wait!" yelled Sakura. "I don't think it's over yet. This memory is hazy, but I can still see a faint outline."

Kakashi nodded, before looking over at Shikamaru. "I see it too. Shikamaru, channel some more chakra into the seal. This memory was weak to begin with."

Doing as he was told, another memory filled their visions and they leaned back in their chairs again.

 _Drip._

 _Drip._

 _Naruto opened his eyes, and found himself laying several inches deep in a pool of water, in what looked to be a large, expansive sewer system. He smiled, and stood up; his clothes completely dry._

"Whoa, is this Naruto's subconscious mind?" Sakura whispered. "It's so dark and depressing…"

 _He began walking down the seemingly endless dark hallway. Although he didn't show it, he knew exactly where he was going._

 _Naruto passed hallway after hallway, before stopping at one in particular. Even through the memory, Sakura could feel something dreadful around the corner. Something tainted. Something evil._

 _He turned, and continued walking. This time, however, he walked into a large, expansive room. Although there were no visible light sources, the entire cavernous room was lit with a gloomy glow that reflected off the moisture on the walls and the pool of water that was still coating the floor._

 _What was most shocking, however, was the massive pair of golden gates in the middle of the room that expanded several dozen yards in all directions – even further in height. In the middle, there was a large metal clasp, covered by a slip of paper with the kanji for "seal" inscribed upon it. The back wall could not be seen from behind the gate – seemingly going on forever. The darkness quickly became the least unsettling thing in the room, as a pair of blood red eyes and snow white teeth punctured the onyx abyss with a snarl._

 _"_ _ **WHAT DID YOU JUST DO, YOU BRAT?!"**_ _shouted the beast._

Sakura jumped back in her chair, and nearly toppled over backwards. Was this the Nine-Tailed Fox that had resided in the body of her teammate for all these years?

 _Naruto only grinned, and put his hands behind his head. "Nothing that concerns you, furball. I'm just taking what's rightfully mine."_

 _The beast roared, and jumped forward, lashing out past the gate with its claws, desperately trying to get at its jailor. But the seal held, as it always did, and Naruto stood tall before it, unflinching._

 _"_ _ **You dare call me by such a name? I am the Nine-Tailed Fox! You petulant brat!"**_ _it bellowed, before moving completely into the light of Naruto's side of the room._

"Whoa… Naruto's had that thing inside of him this entire time? How did he not go completely insane?" gaped Shikamaru, parroting Sakura's thoughts.

"I don't know. I certainly wouldn't have been able to pull off being a jinchuuriki. Naruto is stronger than any of us realize," noted Kakashi. ' _It looks just like it did on that fateful night. I can't believe it. So this is what Naruto had to live with for 14 years.'_

 _The Nine-Tails opened its mouth to continue berating the boy, when it suddenly went wide eyed and fell backwards with a shriek._

 _"_ _ **What…. What have you done to me?!"**_ _it demanded, with a tinge of fear in its voice. Naruto was quick to pick up on it._

 _"Haha! Take that, you stupid fox!" he laughed, running up to the gate. "Now give me your chakra!"_

 _The fox stood up again and took another swing at Naruto, which forced him back again. It grabbed one of the bars as it fell again, this time into the gate itself._

 _Naruto looked at the beast with a slight bit of worry. But also with a slight bit of glee. "Say, Kyuubi, you don't look so good."_

 _Naruto was right – the recently thin and muscular anthropomorphic demon was quickly beginning to wrinkle and grow pale. Its once burnt-orange fur began to pale as well. His eyes, however, continued to be as piercing and hate filled as ever._

 _"_ _ **You'll pay for this! You'll-"**_

 _Suddenly, the Nine-Tails gasped, stood up again, and fell backwards with a shriek. And there it stayed, while Naruto watched on with curiosity and amazement._

 _'I can't believe the Pervy Sage's trick worked! That grouch is down for the count! Awesome!'_

 _Naruto turned, and began to walk out of the room. As he turned, a small blue streak of chakra could be seen coming from Naruto's side, and leaking across the room, and into the cage. This went unnoticed by the boy…_

…but not by his sensei. "Wait a second. What was that? Did either of you two catch that just now?"

"You mean that strange blue beam of chakra coming off of Naruto? Yeah," replied Sakura with a confused look on her face. She was still reeling over the fact she had just seen the Kyuubi, the real Kyuubi, in its true form, sealed away within the depths of Naruto's body.

"Hmm… looks troublesome to me," muttered Shikamaru, before continuing with the Memory Seal Jutsu. "Maybe that's what the chakra extraction process looks like."

 _Naruto opened his eyes, and noticed he was back in the real world._

 _With a very concerned Jiraiya hovering over him._

 _"Hey, kid, you alright? You took quite the smash into that tree there," he said, pointing in front of them. In the path Naruto had travelled after being launched, he had flown straight through a tree, causing it to splinter and split down the middle into a crumpled heap off to the side of the clearing._

 _Naruto coughed once or twice, winced because of the pain in his ribs, and nodded. "Yeah, I feel fine! And I think it worked! It shut the bastard up, that's for sure!"_

 _Jiraiya felt relieved. "Thank goodness for that. Honestly, I had honestly no idea how the beast was going to react." He sighed, extended a hand to Naruto, and helped him up on his feet again._

 _"Yeah! I feel… different now! Much better than before, that's for sure! And it's definitely a bonus that the old furball isn't antagonizing me every step of the way anymore," the boy grinned. "I wonder what my chakra capacity is now…?" He wondered out loud, making sideways glances at Jiraiya, as if asking for permission to test something out._

 _Jiraiya shrugged and smiled. "Sure, go ahead kid. Might as well learn as much as we can about what this jutsu does in regards to your chakra capacity now, before you're forced to later in combat."_

 _"Alright! Here we go then!" he shouted, before forming a hand seal and announcing, "_ _ **Shadow Clone Jutsu!**_ _"_

 _The entire forest erupted into a plume of smoke, making Jiraiya's eyes widen in shock. "Naruto… this is at least…"_

 _At that moment, the fog cleared, revealing thousands of shadow clones, stretching for miles in all directions._

 _"Whoa…" Naruto whispered. "My limit used to be 400 or so. But this is…"_

 _"How many clones did you summon, Naruto?" gaped Jiraiya._

 _"Well, I do what I always do, and think of ten thousand. That always maxes me out, and I feel a significant strain. But right now…"_

 _"Ten thousand?! Kid, that's the most shadow clones one person has ever summoned," shouted Jiraiya._

 _Naruto smiled. "And I know for a fact I can still make more. I just have to think bigger!" Then, he got a devilish idea._

 _He weaved a few more hand signs. "And I still have the power to do this!_ _ **Sexy Jutsu!**_ _"_

 _There was another cloud of smoke, which revealed hundreds upon hundreds of scantily-clad women, all batting their eyes and blowing kisses at Jiraiya. Each clone from before had transformed into an almost naked woman, complete with Naruto's signature blond hair and whisker marks._

"That idiot!" Sakura shouted, as Jiraiya's bloodied nose propelled him into the sky.

Kakashi quickly thanked the gods that he wore a facemask and kept most of his face covered, otherwise he'd have to explain the blush and his own slight nosebleed to the chuunin. "Oh, well… if it works, it works! Hehe…" he hastily remarked with an eyesmile.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, and smiled. "It certainly seems to have an effect on Master Jiraiya, at least."

 _The next memory faded in directly over the previous._

 _Naruto jerked awake inside of his tent, panting heavily and sweating profusely. After regaining his composure and looking around a little bit, he decided it would be best to stand outside and get some fresh air to try to calm his nerves._

 _When he unzipped the tent and stepped out into the cool summer night, he sighed with relief, before stretching a little bit and putting on his mesh undershirt._

 _He had just had a nightmare – one that didn't really make much sense, but terrified him nonetheless. It was one of those nightmares that you forget immediately upon waking up, and Naruto cursed to himself that he would get so worked up over a bad dream._

 _But something about this dream was worse than any of the others that he'd ever had – it was gut-wrenchingly horrible. At least, that's what he could remember of it. After walking around their campsite a few times and thinking to himself, he stepped out into the moonlit clearing that bordered their tenting area._

 _What he saw shocked him._

 _His skin was very, very pale – even that much was obvious in the dim moonlight. In addition to being chalky-white, his arms had begun to sag slightly – almost as if he was aging at an accelerated rate. His fingernails had begun to darken as well._

 _'The way my fingernails look seems familiar,' he thought to himself, before looking closer._

 _Suddenly, it hit him._

 _'Wait, this is what happens to my hands whenever I use the Nine-Tails' cloak.'_

 _Gulping, he rushed towards the small stream that ran through the clearing. He threw himself down, and leaned over the edge, attempting to see his reflection._

 _Staring back at him were a pair of crimson red eyes – not unlike the color his eyes became whenever he got extremely angry or agitated. The pupils were slitted, and were blacker than the night sky._

 _He pulled back his gums, in order to get a better look at his teeth. Sure enough, his canines had grown significantly, and his teeth in general looked sharpened and deadly._

 _Naruto sat back, and stared off into the water in front of him as it reflected the subtle outlines of the moonlit trees. 'Why is this happening to me? I don't understand… I'm not angry, and there's no reason for me to be in this state right now. I also don't have the red chakra cloak right now. This doesn't make any sense…'_

 _Suddenly, a deep feeling of dread overcame him. 'What if this has something to do with the seal the Pervy Sage put on me this morning?'_

 _He lifted up his shirt, and channeled a little chakra down to his toes, which ran through the seal and allowed it to surface on his skin._

 _He panicked a little when he noticed it was glowing. Normally, his seal was hidden until he channeled chakra in his body, and when it appeared, it was black and unmoving._

 _Naruto took a closer look at the seal. In place as always was the Eight Trigrams Seal the Fourth Hokage had placed on him on the day of his birth. But now, there was a small ring of symbols and lettering that circled it._

 _And the Eight Trigrams Seal was glowing inside the ring._

 _Fear quickly came rushing back. 'What if the Nine-Tails is trying to break free? Is that why I suddenly look like this? I don't understand…'_

 _Naruto though about what Jiraiya might say if he saw this. 'He'd probably blame me for it – I must be doing something wrong! Then he'll end up punishing me for ruining his seal and all his hard work…' Naruto frowned a little. 'It's not like it's really all that noticeable, I mean, I'm still me. I still feel the same. It would probably be a good idea not to tell him about this until something happens.'_

"Something tells me that was a mistake… a huge mistake," murmured Shikamaru. "That troublesome idiot. Why wouldn't he tell Master Jiraiya the seal was acting up?"

 _'Actually…' Naruto thought to himself with a grin, 'I feel pretty great. I can probably train for much longer now! So maybe this is supposed to be happening.'_

 _Then, he got an idea. 'I wonder…'_

 _Naruto closed his eyes, grunted, and began channeling his chakra around the seal. 'This always worked before… I hope it'll work now.'_

 _After holding it for a few seconds, the chakra was absorbed by the seal, and Naruto let out a sigh of relief. He looked back down at his reflection, and saw that his eyes had gone back to their vibrant sky-blue hue. His pupil was round and the way it should be. His teeth were still a little long, but not much more than usual. With a smile, he stood up, and dusted himself off._

 _That's when he noticed his hands. His fingernails were still long and clawlike._

 _'Aww, what the hell!' he yelled inside of his head. 'Are they just gonna stay like that forever now?'_

 _He sighed, and admitted defeat. 'Well, the old Pervert is gonna notice this, so I'd better wrap them up with bandages.' He'd have to come up with an excuse for his pale skin, too, but he'd have to think about that later. Besides, he wore a longsleeve jacket all the time, who was going to see?_

Kakashi put his head in his hands. "Oh, Naruto…"

"Why didn't he say anything to Jiraiya?" Sakura began to get frustrated. "That idiot. He never stops to think about his own wellbeing."

 _Naruto headed back to bed, and the memory began to fade again._

 _The next one began abruptly to Jiraiya shaking his tent vigorously from the outside. "OI! Get up, kid! We've got a long day of Big Ball Rasengan training to work on today!"_

 _Naruto sat up immediately, and looked around. His tent was lit with the warm glow of the morning sun, and he could hear the vibrant sounds of nature all around him. It was the next morning already._

 _He blinked a few times, and rubbed his eyes. 'Maybe I was just dreaming?'_

 _He got his answer, when he looked down at his hands, and saw the clawed fingernails._

 _'I guess that answers that question.'_

 _"HEY! GET UP!" bellowed the Toad Sage from outside._

 _"Alright! Alright!" grumbled Naruto. He quickly took out a kunai from his pouch, whittled down his nails so they wouldn't puncture through the bandages, and quickly wrapped his hands before getting dressed and stepping out into the morning light._

 _Jiraiya had turned slightly, and was jotting down notes in a small leather book. He paused when he saw Naruto step out and seal his tent away, then raised an eyebrow when he saw his hands._

 _"What's the deal with the bandages?"_

 _Naruto jumped slightly. He knew his master would pick up on it almost immediately, but it still surprised him how little time it took. Regardless, he had mentally rehearsed what he was going to say already, and it took little time for him to blurt it out._

 _"I burned my hand a little bit when making all those Giant Rasengan yesterday. I'll just have to be more careful today when I train," he quipped, quickly adding a smile at the end._

 _Jiraiya stared at him with a quizzical look on his face for a moment, then sighed and smiled. "I told you not to overwork yourself! Now look at what you've done." He turned around, and started walking. "Come on! We have a little under three hours until we reach the next village."_

The memory seemed to get hazy for a moment, as they departed the campsite and rejoined the main trail again. After a few moments of blurriness, Sakura was about to mention something to Kakashi, when the memory suddenly snapped back into focus.

 _Naruto and Jiraiya were still walking, each maintaining the comfortable silence. The trees on either side of the cleared gravel path seemed to go on for as far as the eye could see, and the sun was now high in the sky._

 _Suddenly, Naruto felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. It startled him, and he stopped for a second, but he quickly got used to the pain and continued walking. 'Must be because I didn't get very much sleep last night…' he thought to himself, before yawning quietly._

 _The two kept walking. Naruto had almost forgotten about the pain from before when suddenly it skyrocketed, like someone had stabbed a kunai through the back of his head and into his brain._

 _"Agh!"_

 _He grasped the back of his head with his bandaged hands, and fell over in a dizzied haze. The pain was getting worse by the second, worse by the moment, and it was unbearable._

 _Jiraiya immediately turned around, kunai drawn, expecting some sort of ambush. Instead, he saw his student doubled over on the trail, breathing erratically, and clutching at the back of his neck. A stifled moan would leak out of his mouth every few seconds._

 _Suddenly, he stopped completely, and started shaking._

 _'Wh… what's happening?' he thought to himself in a panic._

 _"I hate that bastard. He's always coming by my stall and stealing my produce. One of these days he's gonna get what's coming to him."_

 _"I can't believe he'd cheat on me with that whore of a woman. How dare he."_

 _"My father doesn't understand me. No one understands me! I hate them all! They all should die!"_

 _Naruto gasped, his eyes shooting open. He was laying in the fetal position now, with Jiraiya standing over him with a genuinely scared expression on his face._

 _"STOP! STOP TALKING!" he screamed at Jiraiya. "I CAN'T… I CAN'T…"_

 _He began hyperventilating, as another wave of voices began to wash over him._

 _"Those shinobi bastards. They come through here every week and think they're all high and mighty. They're despicable."_

 _"My son is a failure. I can't believe he can't even perform a simple henge jutsu. He's going to grow up as some worthless-"_

 _"NARUTO!"_

 _Naruto snapped out of it long enough to notice Jiraiya holding him by the shoulders and shaking him around. "Wh… what? What happened?"_

 _"You tell me! You had me really worried. What was that all about? Are you okay?"_

 _Naruto blinked a few times. "Where'd… where'd all those people go?"_

 _Jiraiya looked around. "What people? We haven't seen another soul for miles."_

 _Naruto shook his head. "I could hear… so many voices. They were all angry, all so angry…" he began to shudder, as if a cold breeze had passed over him._

 _"Naruto, are you okay? Naruto?" Jiraiya leaned down, and looked him in the eye. Then he jumped back._

 _"Naruto… are you feeling okay? Your eyes… they're red…"_

 _The boy sat up slightly, and his eyes returned to their normal blue color. "Yeah, I'm feeling fine now. That was very weird…"_

 _"Don't scare me like that! And I think it probably has something to do with that seal I gave you yesterday. I need to look it over to make sure everything is okay." He looked at Naruto authoritatively._

 _"Okay…" he said quietly, and lifted up his shirt. Jiraiya stared at it for a few moments, studying the seal quietly and inspecting it for any problems._

 _After a few moments, he shook his head, and looked up at the boy. "Well, I don't see anything wrong with it. So it's not the seal. Can you think of anything that might be making you hallucinate recently? Any changes in strength or energy?"_

 _Naruto shook his head slightly. "Well, I haven't been sleeping well the last few nights. And I have been training pretty hard." He held up his bandaged hands, as if to prove a point._

 _Jiraiya chuckled. "Well alright then. You need to take it easier for the next few days. Just until you start to feel better. Okay?"_

 _Naruto nodded, and stood up. He stumbled a little bit, but the dizziness from getting up too quickly soon passed, and they continued on their way._

 _Naruto didn't bother mentioning that he could still hear voices – although they were much quieter now. Like a whisper._

* * *

Shikamaru grunted a little, and the memories began to fade. "Sorry guys, that's my limit. I'm all out of chakra."

Kakashi smiled, and began to assemble his books into a pile in front of him. "That's alright, you two. It's already getting pretty late." He nodded towards the windows, which were growing darker and darker with each second, as the Hidden Leaf village was plunged into twilight.

"Whoa, how long were we sitting here?" mumbled Sakura, rubbing her eyes.

"Judging by how sore I am right now, a long time," grimaced Shikamaru, as he fidgeted in his seat. "My mom is probably gonna kill me for sitting around all day."

"Well, we weren't exactly just sitting around," Kakashi noted, pointing at the page of the Icha Icha book he had been jotting down notes in. It was completely covered – he had even begun to write on the first few pages, between the lines of the book itself. "There was a lot of information to go through."

"Yeah… and there's still more to sift through," said Shikamaru, as he looked at the seal on the book in front of him. "We probably have another few hours ahead of us, at least."

"Well then, let's not waste any time," Kakashi smiled. "Let's meet up here first thing in the morning and keep gathering information. The more we are able to get from these seals, the better our chances of the retrieval squad being successful."

The two Chuunin nodded, and began packing up their belongings. Kakashi took the leather-bound notebook and put it away in his vest for safekeeping, before gathering up his Icha Icha collection in his arms and standing up. "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm famished! How does barbeque sound? My treat."

"Yeah, yeah, you always say that, but then you bail before the check comes," sweatdropped Sakura. "But I don't care. I'm starving. I could eat a horse."

And so, the three of them departed the library, as they mentally processed everything they had just seen.

* * *

Kyuubi approached the large stone statue with a grin on his face.

"Well, well, well. It took you long enough," chastised Kisume with a grin. "What have you been doing all day, kid?"

The boy threw down two bodies, and they fell to the floor with a _thump_.

"The Eight-Tails and the Two-Tails, as promised. And in under 8 hours," smiled Kyuubi.

"Impressive," muttered Itachi, as he watched the boy join the rest of the Akatsuki on the outstretched fingers of the Gedo Statue.

"Nicely done, Kyuubi. We will now begin the sealing of both the Two-Tails and the Eight-Tails. Prepare for a three-day sealing jutsu," came the powerful voice of the purple-eyed one.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa – three days?!" gawked Hidan. "What the hell? I thought these ceremonies only took one day!"

Kyuubi sighed, and looked at the white-haired man. "I'm not going to be able to make quite the same… _significant contribution_ to the sealing jutsu this time," he stated, before holding his hands out. They were tattered and torn, and the Nine-Tails' chakra was poking out from each gash – although not as vibrantly as before. "Destroying the Hidden Cloud and having to do so while working around this seal, was, well, rather troublesome," He grinned.

"Regardless, the sealing will take significantly shorter with Kyuubi here, even at his reduced strength, for the time being," said Pain, also looking at Hidan. "Unless you'd _like_ to spend the next week on each of these Jinchuuriki."

Hidan paled, and shook his head vehemently. "I'll take what I can get, I guess. But damn, at least let me go to the bathroom first."

"Silence. We will now begin the sealing," barked the leader, as he weaved a dozen or so hand signs in quick succession.


	7. Chapter 7: Naruto the Gallant (Pt 2)

_*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*_

* * *

 _ **Transformation**_ **Arc:**

 **Chapter 7 – The Tale of Naruto the Gallant (Part II)**

* * *

 _They were still walking – it was another 2 miles to the village they were heading for. Jiraiya kept glancing over at his student with a worried look on his face, as if waiting for him to collapse again._

 _Naruto looked back at his sensei, and donned a half-hearted smile to try to convince the Sannin that he was okay, regardless of the… incident that had occurred a few hours ago._

 _To tell the truth, Naruto could still hear voices – but they were much more subdued now, as opposed to before, when it sounded like a mob of people was standing over his cowering body and shouting at him. But they didn't seem to be bothering him now – at least, not at the moment._

 _They kept walking, until the first scattered buildings of a sizeable village in the northern part of the Land of Fire. This area was known for its hot springs and peaceful, warm, hospitable people._

"Wait a second… I've been there before!" remarked Tsunade. "They have a small gambling hut towards the far side of the village, towards the forest."

The Hokage had been briefed on the memory seal and its contents earlier that morning. After shoving most of her paperwork load onto Shizune, the Sannin herself joined Sakura, Shikamaru, and Kakashi in the library to view the rest of the seal's memories.

They had replayed the more crucial moments from the memory seal for her, including Naruto's run-in with the Nine-Tails inside of him. Tsunade grimaced at seeing her former teammate and "grandson" speaking and joking and yelling at each other like nothing had happened. But she remained firm, knowing that this information might be enough to help bring Naruto back, and maybe suppress the Nine-Tails enough to the point where he could return to normal again.

At least, that was what she desperately wanted.

 _Jiraiya had made it an order that Naruto take the next few days to relax and recover from his heavy training regimen, and for once, Naruto didn't put up a fight._

 _He didn't say anything, but he was feeling fatigued – and heavily so – just from walking and breathing._

 _He felt… weak._

 _After a few more excruciating minutes of walking through the village, they found a lovely little inn right off the hot springs that they could relax in. Before Jiraiya was even done paying for their rooms, the jinchuuriki trudged down the hallway to their home-away-from-home and crashed on one of the beds… hard._

 _The memory faded for a moment, then returned to normal after a moment._

 _Jiraiya was standing over him, wearing a fluffy white robe, and a concerned expression on his face._

 _"Naruto… you've been out for damn near a full day. What's gotten into you?"_

 _The boy leaned up, and blinked a few times, trying to fight off the sleepiness he was still burdened with. "Hmm… I dunno… I just feel like I need some serious rest…" he mumbled, before stretching and laying back down again._

 _"Well, alright then. I'm going to head to the hot springs for a little… relaxation." The Toad Sage kept his concerned demeanor in front of Naruto, but he could still see the gleam in his master's eye that screamed 'research' instead of 'relaxation'._

 _'Whatever', he thought to himself, 'At least I won't be around to have to clean up after him.'_

 _The memory faded again, this time completely to black._

 _Then, suddenly, he was standing in the middle of the cage room again – looking up at the enormous golden gates before him._

 _Everything looked the same as before, but this time, Naruto noticed a stream of bright blue chakra flowing off of him, and past the bars in the cage to somewhere in the darkness._

 _'What the hell?' he thought, before approaching the doors._

"Well, at least he finally noticed it," Kakashi said. "Still, we have no idea what that chakra beam is, or what it's doing…"

Tsunade murmured in agreement.

 _"Hey! Furball! What the hell are you doing with my chakra!" he shouted through the cage._

 _Naruto flinched, expecting a harsh rebuttal for using that nickname._

 _But nothing came._

 _Naruto scratched his head, and leaned forward a little bit. "Hey, you in there? What's gotten into you? Normally you'd be all over me for saying something like that."_

 _No response._

 _"…Kyuubi?"_

 _Naruto gulped, and quickly jumped to the conclusion that something was seriously wrong. He took another few steps, until he was standing right next to the massive bars; only a few steps away from the Kyuubi's domain._

 _Then, he froze. 'Wait a minute, what if he's just trying to pull something? Maybe he's trying to lure me in so he can squash me and get out.'_

 _Naruto smirked. "Ha! You can't fool me! I'm not going to fall for that one. You might as well just give it up…"_

 _His voice trailed off, as he began scanning the darkness for any traces of hate-filled eyes or an incoming set of claws._

 _His eyes opened in shock when he caught a glimmer of burnt orange on the ground, that looked remarkably like a rear paw. And from the position it was laying in, it looked like the fox hadn't moved much since the last encounter._

 _Mustering up what little courage he had at facing the fearsome beast, Naruto held his breath, and took another few steps into the cage._

"I've got a bad feeling about this…" Shikamaru muttered.

 _"…Kyuubi? Hey, are you alright?"_

 _Naruto's more sensitive, caring nature got the best of him, even in regards to his prisoner. Or maybe it was curiosity. He couldn't really figure it out himself – he was more focused on the shadow of the paw that began to loom ahead of him._

 _As he delved further into the realm of the fox, the light from the other side of the cage began to follow him, slowly illuminating the darkness in front of him, as he continued to approach the Nine-Tails._

 _Naruto gasped as the body of the beast appeared before him, now lit by the mysterious source that followed him in._

"What?"

"Holy sh-"

"Oh my…"

"That's… that's not… how…?"

 _Laying before Naruto, in a clumsy heap, was the great and powerful Nine-Tailed Demon Fox of the Leaf Village. Its fur was tattered and faded, as if something had sapped the color from its once vibrant mane. The more taut portions of its form, such as the skin around its face and upper body, was wrinkled and sagged – as if it was slowly fading out of existence, from the inside out. Its muzzled face was gray and pale – moreso than the rest of it. The demon's tails weren't friskily dancing about behind it like every time Naruto had seen it – instead, they were piled on top of each other uncomfortably, soaking like the rest of its body in the watery abyss of its cage._

 _Naruto began cautiously circling the beast, still anticipating a surprise attack, but it didn't move. Finally, he decided to approach it and try and wake it up – maybe it was just asleep?_

 _The boy walked up to its massive head, and tapped its nose a few times. To Naruto's surprise, the soft flesh wasn't cold and wet like he expected the fox's to be – he had been around Kiba and Akamaru long enough to know that those were signs of a canine's good health. Instead, it was completely dry, and cold in a different sense._

 _One that Naruto had felt before, on many occasions – a coldness that came with..._

 _Naruto took a step back in shock and disbelief._

 _The Kyuubi was dead._

* * *

"How is that possible? I thought Tailed Beasts couldn't die?" panicked Sakura, frantically glancing around the room at all the equally bewildered faces gathered around the table.

"It isn't possible," muttered Kakashi, eye wide open.

The memory had faded to black after that, and Shikamaru felt that it was best to end the replaying of memories until they could discuss this in length. Taking his finger off the page, he sighed, and looked around at everyone else as well.

Sakura was darting back and forth from her sensei to her Hokage, waiting for some kind of response. Kakashi was still staring at the bloodied page of the notebook, as if he was lost in thought, or replaying what he had just seen in his head. Tsunade, in her usual form of contemplation in the face of sincere shock, was resting her chin on her steepled fingers and looking off absentmindedly in the direction of the table in front of her.

Suddenly, Tsunade grimaced, and frowned, slapping her hands down on the table. She sat there for a moment, before finally speaking.

"That damn Jiraiya! What the hell did he think he was doing, tampering with seals he knew nothing about! On something as powerful as the Nine-Tailed Fox!" she plastered her hands on her face, running them up and into her hair, where they stayed, upsetting her blond mop.

Finally, after several uncomfortable heartbeats, Tsunade shifted her gaze to Shikamaru; otherwise not moving at all. "Please continue."

Shocked at the reaction of the slug princess, Shikamaru blinked once, then looked back down at the scroll and placed his chakra-infused finger back on the seal.

 _Naruto woke with a start – he was still lying in the bed from before. It was dark out now; the faint glow from the moon outside meandered its way through the windows on the far side of the hotel room, and illuminated its contents halfheartedly._

 _He sat up completely this time, heart racing, as he glanced around the room. Jiraiya was still out – his bed was still made and untouched._

 _Naruto was about to jump to his feet and look for his sensei when he felt an intense wave of heat radiate from the seal and burn into his skin._

 _Wincing, he pulled his mesh shirt up enough so he could see the seal – and nearly screamed._

 _The seal was glowing bright blue – enough to illuminate a small portion of the hotel room. It was glowing much more than the last time, and pulsing slightly, sending waves of pain throughout the jinchuuriki's body._

 _Deciding he had waited long enough to spill the beans to his sensei, Naruto struggled to his feet, hand held gingerly over his stomach._

 _When he finally gained his footing, his back slouched over more than he was expecting, and he yelped in pain as his spine popped and crackled like a dried up leaf in the final weeks of autumn. It was uncomfortable to stand – almost like he wasn't meant to be on two feet. After taking a few small, experimental steps, his legs gave out, and he fell, face-first, onto the floor with a_ thud.

 _But that wouldn't stop him. He had to get to Jiraiya, and fast – he needed to figure out what was wrong. He felt very strange – not like he was in pain. No, he was uncomfortable – like his very existence was wrong: the way he held his hands, the way he breathed, the way his spine buckled under the weight of standing._

 _So, he began to crawl towards the door, slowly but surely._

 _After a few moments of dragging himself across the wooden floor of their hotel, Naruto willed himself to stand slightly and pull the doorknob, collapsing on the floor again after his task was complete._

 _The brilliant warm light of the hallway in front of him beckoned Naruto further, as if to encourage him to not give up. Besides, he had developed a sort of wiggle in his short jaunt across their hotel room floor that seemed to be effective enough._

 _He struggled out the door, which closed with a_ click _behind him. 'No turning back now, I guess,' he winced to himself, willing his tormented body to move._

 _Move._

 _MOVE!_

 _His pained crawling down the hall became sluggish, and his vision began to blur._

 _'N..no… I have to get up; I need to get to Jiraiya…'_

 _And he passed out again, this time in the middle of the hallway._

* * *

 _The next memory began immediately after the previous one. Naruto was no longer on the floor of a hotel – he was lying in a hospital bed, with his teacher looking over him - a worried, angry look etched on his features like a wood carving._

 _Naruto took a moment to look around the room before trying to speak. He was in an unknown hospital – he could tell, because the Hidden Leaf's had square, light-gray/beige tiles that ran across down the length of ceiling. He knew that because he counted them out, repeatedly, after each stint he had to spend there._

 _This hospital's ceiling, however, was flat and plain – and completely white. As was the rest of the room – including the bedsheets, the nurse's outfits, and the machinery that littered the room haphazardly, and…_

 _…his sensei's hair._

 _"Jiraiya-sensei?" Naruto murmured, still not quite all there._

 _The man forced a pained smile across his face. "Hey, kid. How are you feeling?"_

 _Naruto looked around again, and down at his body._

 _He was covered from head to toe with bandages – his hands still had the bandaging he had applied himself before the… incident at the hot springs._

 _He tried to sit up slightly, but couldn't stifle the yelp that squeaked out of his mouth as pain arced across his flesh. He fell back down on the pillow, squinting his eyes as he rode out the waves of slowly-receding agony._

 _When he opened them again after the pain mostly went away, he saw Jiraiya holding his shoulder tenderly._

 _"Hey… don't move. And you don't call me that unless something is seriously wrong."_

 _The boy looked back up at him with a confused expression on his face, before closing his eyes and sighing again._

 _"Wh…what happened?" Naruto was shocked at how raspy and decrepit his voice sounded._

 _"You were in some sort of chakra-exhaustion induced coma for a week, Naruto. The doctors say that your body was starting to fall apart because of it. They've never seen anything like it – neither have I. Although that Uzumaki blood you have might have something to do with it. And probably also the Nine-Tails."_

 _"No… The fox… he's… I don't understand…" Naruto stuttered as the memories of his strange encounter with his prisoner dashed about in his mind._

 _Jiraiya smiled warmly, and patted Naruto gently with the hand that was still on his shoulder. "I found you passed out and looking really sickly on the floor on my way back to the hotel room. You wouldn't wake up, and your pulse was weak – so I rushed you here."_

 _Naruto looked back up at the ceiling, thinking about the events that transpired that night. 'Was it really a week ago? It feels like it just happened…'_

 _Jiraiya chuckled a little to himself. "You know, maybe it had something to do with you dying your hair orange. Maybe your body doesn't like the color."_

 _Naruto turned back to his sensei confusedly. "What do you mean, dying my hair orange?"_

 _"Don't play dumb with me, kid. You've been dying little bits and pieces, here and there, trying to sneak it past me. I thought it was just some sort of cruel prank, but I guess if you love the color orange that much, then fine, be that way." Jiraiya shrugged with a smile, leaning back in his chair._

 _Naruto gingerly raised a hand up to his head, and felt his hair._

 _To his shock, he pulled back a clump of it – and just like Jiraiya said, it was mostly blond, with streaks of burnt orange running through it. 'What the hell?'_

 _"That's another reason why I think your body doesn't like it – you've been shedding like a dog for the past few days, since you started messing with it. You need to buy some better dye, kid." He chuckled softly, before frowning at Naruto's horrified expression as he clenched the clump of hair in his hand._

 _"What…what the hell is happening to me?" he croaked, before pulling back another clump of blond-orange hair._

 _Next thing he knew, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he slumped back into unconsciousness, as Jiraiya called a doctor into the room urgently._

"I guess that makes sense," Sakura stated emotionlessly. "His hair was spotty and orange when we ran into him during the Gaara mission. I almost didn't recognize him at first."

"That doesn't sound like purely chakra exhaustion to me," noted Tsunade, who was once again leaning her chin against her fingers.

 _His mindscape opened up before him again – and once again, he was standing in front of the massive sealed doors that were meant to house the Nine-Tailed Fox._

 _Without wasting any time at all, Naruto sprinted towards the gates, but froze when his attention drifted to the beam of blue chakra that he was leaking._

 _Well, it used to be blue, at least._

 _Now, it was a bright shade of purple, and seemed to be tapering off from his body in a much less heated manner than it had been before._

 _He hadn't thought much of it at the time – after all, it was his mindscape, and there were many strange things that happened in there. Hell, his mind was a giant closed circuit sewer – not exactly something that made much sense, now that he thought about it._

 _So in his eye, a strange beacon of blue chakra was par for the course._

 _After taking a moment to observe the purple beam, he then focused on his body._

 _And he was surprised to see it was looking just as wrinkly and pale as the Kyuubi had last time he entered his mindscape._

 _He looked down at the pool of water below him, and took notice of his reflection. His hair was now very orange, with clumps falling out at the slightest bit of disturbance. His face, other than being pale and sickly, still had the 6 whisker marks dashing across his cheeks, and his eyes were still blue and brilliant._

 _After giving himself a visual patdown, he ran back into the seal to check on the Kyuubi._

 _'Maybe it's not dead… maybe it's just sleeping?'_

 _But even Naruto's subconscious agreed that that was wishful thinking._

 _That was, until he approached the fox's figure, and saw it was slowly regaining its color, and its skin was regaining its elasticity._

 _'What?'_

 _And then, Naruto noticed that the beam of purple chakra was feeding right into the body of the beast – bleeding Naruto dry._

 _He gasped, and jumped back, hoping that distance between them would stop the flow of chakra. He ran back to the other side of the seal, and to the far side of the room._

 _But still, the purple beam of chakra oozed out of him and floated across the cavernous space, and into the sealed darkness, into the Kyuubi._

 _'This is bad… I'm leaking chakra like a sieve…'_

"So, that's what that beam was. Interesting that it's purple now, instead of blue," remarked Kakashi, with a tinge of worry in his voice.

"Isn't the Kyuubi's chakra red?"

Kakashi, Tsunade, and Sakura all looked up at Shikamaru with questioning faces.

"Sure, his chakra cloak was red – like blood. But why does that matter?" Sakura asked, staring at the Nara boy. She remembered very clearly what Naruto's Nine-Tails cloak looked like after experiencing it a few times firsthand herself.

"What if… and humor me on this one… what if their chakras are blending somehow?" Shikamaru looked from Kakashi, to Sakura, to Tsunade, and back again.

"Well, it's just a color change. We'll need to keep watching to know for sure," the Hokage said calmly. "However, for Naruto's sake, let's hope you're wrong."

 _They were on the road again, although much slower and less vivaciously than before._

 _Naruto was walking – no, trudging – alongside Jiraiya as they made their way south. He had a couple soldier pills in his hand, which he was fiddling with lightly as he walked._

 _After a few miles, he became weaker, and popped another pill into his mouth, grimacing at the taste, but swallowing it nonetheless. After a few moments, he felt his strength return, but only at a fraction of what it was before._

 _His heavy backpack was offsetting the forward-kilter that his back now had – but he was still having to force himself to stand up straight._

 _They were heading to a safe place, far enough away from the rest of civilization in order for Jiraiya to remove the seal. Everything that Jiraiya had seen up until that point had indicated that the Untamed Beast Seal had malfunctioned somehow, and that it needed to be removed. Naruto's sickly appearance certainly could vouch for that._

 _Jiraiya had previously stated how he was worried that something might also break on the Eight Trigrams Seal, so they were heading especially far away in order to ensure that, in the unlikely event that the Kyuubi was freed, no one would be hurt._

 _Other than Naruto, that is. Jiraiya cursed himself for not taking extra precautions before playing around with seals he had never seen before._

 _"Hold on, Naruto, we only have another few hours or so until we're back at our last campsite," came Jiraiya's voice, briefly capturing Naruto's wavering attention. It was fully of worry and fear – not of Naruto, but for Naruto._

 _By now, his hair was completely orange. It happened while Naruto fell unconscious again, at which point Jiraiya realized that it wasn't something Naruto was doing on purpose._

 _Naruto stumbled forward a little bit, before his feet finally caught up with him and he staggered slightly, regaining his footing. Jiraiya turned around and looked at him._

 _"Do you need any help? I can carry you, you know."_

 _"N…no… I should be able to make it. I'm still a little weak from being in the hospital for so long but I should be able to make it to our campsite no problem." He smiled weakly, in order to help calm his sensei's nerves._

 _And, to be honest, his own nerves too._

 _He hadn't told Jiraiya what went on in his mind while he was knocked out – because, honestly, he didn't believe it was real. At least, he really was hoping it wasn't. But he figured at this point, considering how close they were to removing the Untamed Beast Seal, he didn't think it mattered anymore._

 _Naruto pulled out a polished kunai, and held it in front of his face to see his reflection._

"God, he looks awful," muttered Sakura, who was frowning to herself. Being a medical ninja meant she had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

"It looks like someone's draining the life out of him," Tsunade added. She also was able to deduce that Naruto was in bad shape.

 _Naruto looked like he had aged 20 years in two weeks – his body still had a youthful figure to it, but the wrinkles and paleness certainly didn't help. It was hard to believe he was this fragile._

 _'Did I really rely this much on the Kyuubi?' Naruto thought, assuming that his condition was due to the Nine-Tails'… incapacitation._

 _The memory fogged over again, signaling the passage of uneventful time, before sharpening back into clarity again after the campsite from several memories ago reappeared before them. The sun was mostly set at this point, casting long shadows across the forests and beginning the opening sequence of nighttime's arrival._

 _Jiraiya sighed, and pulled out a small scroll from within his kimono. He formed a hand seal with his right hand, and after unrolling the scroll, a small tent appeared on the ground in front of him with a puff of smoke._

 _"Alright, we'll rest here for the night. I want to make sure you have enough energy tomorrow for when I take the seal off for good. You look like you could use some rest anyways." Jiraiya put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and smiled kindly, before crawling into his tent as the sky blackened considerably._

 _Naruto set up his own tent, and tried to rest. But he couldn't, no matter how hard he tried. His seal felt… strange, almost like the Kyuubi was acting up inside. He tried to enter his mindscape to check on his tenant, but had no luck._

 _He still felt weak, but he was doing no good sitting around in his tent for the entire night, so he decided to get up and move around, in order to keep his mind occupied._

 _He walked over to the center of the clearing, and looked up at the moon in the night sky. It was completely full now, looming overhead like a beacon in the night. He could see everything clearly – the treetops swaying in the breeze, the small creek to the north, the blitzing of the clouds between himself and the starry night._

 _Naruto sighed, and looked down at himself. 'This existence sure is insignificant.' He let out a small chuckle, and walked to the reflective surface of the water in the creek. 'Life goes on, I guess.'_

 _He looked at his features for a few minutes, scrutinizing every detail on his face and body before blinking a few times and sitting down with his knees up to his chin, wrapping his frail arms around his legs._

 _He was still wearing a plain, dark grey t-shirt with the Uzumaki swirl emblazoned on the front. It hung off of him a little looser than it normally did, but it still fit fine. He tugged at it a little, looking down at the crest, and thought back to all of his friends and comrades in the Leaf._

 _Images of Tsunade, Kakashi, Iruka, Teuchi, Sakura, Hinata, Lee, Neji, the Hokage Monument, his small apartment, the ramen shop, the Academy, the Hokage's Tower, the front gates, and many more flashed briefly in his mind, one after another, like a slideshow. He smiled warmly at the thought of hanging out with them again soon, but… something inside of him told him that that wouldn't be happening again. His smile hollowed considerably, and he stared down at the grass in front of him._

 _He looked back up at the moon again, and this time, really scrutinized it with a prying eye. He observed the faint glimmer it held as clouds passed it by, trying to diminish its intense light to no avail. He noticed that it was moving across the night sky slowly, and sat watching it silently for five minutes. Or ten. Or 100. He honestly wasn't aware of time anymore._

 _It was strange – the moon was never more than a passing fancy to him, just like the rest of humanity. But now… it felt like it was calling to him, whispering to him. It was mesmerizing, and beautiful – more beautiful than he ever remembered it being. He smiled slightly, and closed his eyes._

 _He felt a blinding pain in his chest – one that he had never experienced before. He immediately curled forward in pain, eyes squinted shut, trying to ride it out._

 _But it kept getting worse and worse, progressively so – until he noticed his consciousness blurring considerably, which numbed the pain. 'That's nice,' he thought to himself warmly, before falling over slightly and opening his eyes ever so slightly._

 _His vision was fragmented and jumbled, and he watched his peripheral vision grow dark and shrink with each faint heartbeat._

 _He closed his eyes again, and tried to stand up, but instead fell facefirst into the water in front of him. At least, he thought that's where he fell, because he couldn't feel anything anymore._

 _He struggled to move – to get up, to move, to get help. But his body betrayed him, and stayed where it was, before it suddenly jolted a few times on the ground._

 _His heart had stopped._

 _'That can't be good,' he mused to himself, as he faded out of consciousness._

 _Under the light of the full moon, in a small clearing in the south side of the Fire Country, under the cover of tall, waving trees, Naruto Uzumaki died - hands crumpled at his sides, face submerged partially in the crystal clear spring water flowing through the heart of the forest._

* * *

Sakura just sat there, mouth agape, letting the pained memories of her teammate flow over her like the pain he suffered that night. She couldn't explain it – she felt… guilty, almost, for the way he was feeling. He was in tremendous pain, that much was transferred (although dulled slightly due to the seal) through the memory.

If only she had been there. She could have stopped this, helped him move, tried to heal whatever was wrong-

"Sakura."

She looked up with a start, and saw the Hokage looking at her with a grim expression plastered across her face.

"Please… don't blame yourself for this. There's no way anyone – not even Jiraiya – to know what was happening."

Sakura sniffled, and took a quick glance at her other colleagues. Both had a look of absolute shock on their faces.

They had, after all, just witnessed the dying moments of one of their friends.

"So he really is dead," she whispered, before looking down at the table in front of her, her vision quickly becoming obscured by the tears that were threatening to fall from her face.

She may not have liked the boy all that much at the start, but she had to admit that he had grown on her after they became teammates and worked together with Kakashi and Sasuke.

She let out a sob, realizing that both of her teammates were gone, most likely for good. Sakura thought back to the moment three years ago, when Naruto and the Sasuke Retrieval Squad was departing, and Naruto made the promise of a lifetime – to bring their friend back.

It would seem he was true to his word in the end after all.

Sakura jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked up to see Kakashi staring at her with a very sad, very hollow look in his eye.

"Sakura. There was nothing you could have done." He looked down at the ground as he spoke. "For either of them."

She jumped. 'Was he thinking the same thing I was?' Her thoughts were interrupted by Kakashi's voice, this time barely above a whisper.

"I failed again… I'm sorry, Minato-sensei."

And he shunshined away in a cloud of leaves.

* * *

 **A/N:** Wow - congratulations. You made it through the gauntlet! Chapters 2-5 and to a lesser extent Chapters 6-7 are, without a doubt, the worst things I have _ever_ written, and they make me incredibly uncomfortable to reread... so I can't imagine what they must be like to go through for the first time.

Regardless, everything from here on out is much, _much_ better written - I spent a lot of time working on this chapter to make it decent at the time - and that still holds true now. The plot finally (... _finally!_ ) begins to move forward here.

I mentioned at the beginning that I am still proud of what I wrote for the latter half of Kyuubi \- this is the start of that half. Chapter 14 will always and forever be my favorite chapter of this story, though.

You'll have to read to it to find out why - you'll be lost otherwise ;)

Thanks for reading - and I'm glad you stuck with it this far!


	8. Chapter 8: Naruto the Gallant (Pt 3)

_*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*_

* * *

 _ **Transformation**_ **Arc:**

 **Chapter 8 – The Tale of Naruto the Gallant (Part III)**

* * *

Iruka Umino decided to take the long way home from the Academy that evening – one that would give him more time to think. It had been two days since Hinata broke the news to him that Naruto was still alive – although mingling with a crowd of S-class missing-nin.

He smirked to himself. ' _Naruto never did know how to do something modestly, did he? If you're gonna go missing from your village, you might as well do it right.'_

He strolled through the thinning streets of the Leaf village, the soft crunch of his shinobi sandals connecting with the gravel pathway echoing behind him as he walked. He passed by a few of his students as he went, and they bowed to each other respectfully with a smile.

Suddenly, Iruka found himself basking in the warm glow of a rather familiar ramen stand. It looked exactly the same as it had the day that Naruto and he had partaken in their last bowl together before he set off on his trip around the world with Jiraiya - an array of soft beige canvas with kanji written on it hung loosely on the rafters of the building, and Iruka could see 6 unoccupied seats from between the cracks.

He ducked in for a moment, if only to say hi to Teuchi and Ayame, the owners. He had developed quite the relationship with the father-and-daughter pair after coming here so many times with his favorite student (and probably paying enough out of pocket for old man Ichiraku to open another 3 franchises across the Hidden Leaf).

He smiled warmly as the pair greeted him, and sat down for a moment. "Hi there! I won't be long, just out on a walk. Figured I'd stop by and grab a bowl on the way."

Ayame smiled, and handed him a menu. "Well, we're happy to oblige! Right, old man?" She turned and smiled at her father, who was working the noodles behind the counter.

"Right!" Teuchi smiled, turning and gesticulating with the noodles he had in a strainer in his hand.

"Thanks, you guys," smiled Iruka, before he set the menu down. "I'll take one small misu pork ramen, please."

"You got it!" called the ramen chef from the back, still facing the boiler in front of him.

Ayame pulled a stool up on the other side of the counter, across from Iruka. "So, how have you been the past couple of weeks?"

Iruka smiled again, and put his hands in his pockets. "I've actually been doing pretty well, all things considered. This year's crop of genin is going to be pretty impressive, I can already tell."

Ayame laughed, and leaned back on her stool a little bit. "Yeah, I bet! The one with the scarf, Lord Third's grandson, comes here pretty often. He's our best customer right now."

Iruka chuckled a few times to himself. "Yep, that's Konohamaru. He's certainly grown up these past few years, hasn't he?"

"Oh, you can say that again. He reminds me of Naruto a lot, actually."

Iruka's face went neutral for a moment, before he resumed his smile. He was glad that these two still thought of Naruto now and then. "Yeah, he really does. Pulls pranks and everything. And that Sexy Jutsu of his…" he frowned, and smashed his fist into his palm, as a small trickle of blood came out of his nose. He blushed, and wiped it away, hoping that it went unnoticed by the ramen apprentice.

It didn't.

"Haha! You big pervert!" snickered Ayame from across the bar. "Is it true Naruto used that Jutsu to knock out Lord Third way back in the day?"

Iruka smirked. "Yeah, much to his displeasure. He was sour for a week after that. Naruto couldn't get enough; he thought it was hilarious."

Ayame grinned to herself. "That silly kid – I miss him quite a bit. The shop's not the same without him here."

The chuunin instructor nodded expressionlessly. He couldn't spill the beans on what he had learned from Hinata – even if these two were some of Naruto's closest friends. It was an S-class secret for a reason.

"Yeah… you know, it would have been three years a few days ago, right? He was supposed to come back this past Saturday. I had a big party planned for him and everything, back before we got the news."

Ayame saddened a little bit, before nodding. "Yeah, that was quite the shock, that's for sure. I don't think I could do that again." She looked up at him. "I'm just glad he died doing what he loved – being a ninja, and somebody people could be proud of knowing."

"Well said," Iruka commented, resting his wrists on the edge of the counter. "That's why I'm here – to honor him with a nice steaming bowl of his favorite ramen!"

"Only one bowl?" piped up Teuchi from the back. "With Naruto, it was always more like twenty…"

Both Iruka and Ayame laughed, and Iruka was glad for the break in seriousness for a few moments.

A minute or so later, a piping hot bowl of miso pork ramen was placed in front of the man, who quickly broke his chopsticks and thanked the old man and his daughter for his food.

He looked down and smiled at what he saw in front of him.

Instead of just the typical spiral pattern on the fishcakes placed gently on the broth in front of him, there was a smaller swirl in the middle, girdled by 3 sets of whisker-like markings.

"Naruto would have loved that, you know," he said, pointing at the fishcakes with a smile.

Ayame leaned over and looked at what he was indicating in his food. "Ha! Yeah. Dad suggested we do that after we got the bad news."

Teuchi, now finished with his ramen-making duties for the time being, moved over next to his daughter, rested an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in for a side-hug. "I figured that the name Naruto outgrew just the fishcake. It was only fitting." He smiled, and gave the teacher a thumbs-up. "And only available at Ichiraku Ramen!"

This made the teacher smile warmly. "I couldn't think of a better tribute!"

He quickly slurped down the small bowl of soup, paid the two owners in addition to a sizeable tip, and headed off to his second destination of the evening.

' _If I'm gonna go on a Naruto Uzumaki memorial jaunt around town, there's one place that I have to go see.'_

* * *

Iruka walked through the wooded treeline around training ground 3, passing three small wooden stumps on his way to the memorial stone. The sun had completely set at this point, and only the slight glimmer of the moon reflecting off of the flowing river to the northern part of the clearing was discernible due to the age of the night.

His mind wandered for a moment about what Naruto's life would have been like had he stayed in the Leaf village. The boy was incredibly talented – anyone could see that. Even when he was back at the academy, Iruka had noted the potential he had within him – and he wasn't just thinking about the Nine-Tails. Naruto had the guts – or lack of brains, one of the two – to get up after every time he fell, something that he wish he could have said about most of his former students. In all actuality, most 'ninja' that went through the academy either flew through it in a breeze, only to be killed by their own egocentrism. The rest did the bare minimum work, either because that was the best they could do, or because they were too busy watching clouds to give a damn (his mind quickly wandered to Shikamaru), and ended up dying because they weren't strong enough, both physically and mentally.

It takes hard work and perseverance to become a shinobi. More than that, though, was mental awareness of one's strength. That was why Naruto left with Jiraiya three years ago, that was why Naruto was trying so hard and risking so much. That was why Naruto died as well in the end. Well, supposedly died. But from what Hinata had described, he was as good as a dead man walking.

Iruka shrugged his shoulders, looked up at the night sky, and cursed the stars. 'Why do us shinobi always die? This isn't a life for children, or even adults, for that matter. There is no peace or solidarity in life, as long as the shinobi way exists.'

The chuunin's mental existential crisis about his career and the society it rode on was brought to an abrupt halt as he saw a figure lying down next to the memorial stone, leaning on it gently, staring at the moon.

Iruka approached slowly, and let out a slight _cough_ to alert the other ninja that someone was approaching. The shadowy figure didn't move at all.

' _Is something wrong?'_

His eyes began to finally acclimate to the dimness of the night, and he was finally able to make out a crop of messy silver hair, atop the head of a rather infamous jounin instructor.

"Kakashi?"

The figure still didn't move. Iruka sighed, and walked in front of the man to get a better look at him.

Kakashi was sitting next to the monument, leaning his head on the side as he looked up at the sky. His forehead protector was no longer on his face; instead, he was clutching it tightly in his hands, which were sitting in his lap. His sharingan eye was closed, but he was looking up at the moon intently with his normal eye, as if trying to search for some sort of hidden meaning within the cratered surface. His jounin flak jacket was lying on the ground in front of him, leaving him only in a black body-tight shirt that extended up his neck, covering his mouth and nose.

He blinked when he saw Iruka standing in front of him, before lowering his head to look at him, still leaning against the memorial stone.

"Oh… hey."

Iruka smiled slightly, with a look of worry in his eyes. But he figured that the man must have been here for reasons he'd want to keep to himself, so he simply walked over to the other side of the memorial stone and sat down as well.

The two sat in silence for what seemed like ages, while Iruka traced out first the names of his parents at towards the top of the stone, then down to the bottom, where a more recently carved set of kanji were dug into the rock carefully.

'Naruto Uzumaki'.

Iruka gave a hollow smile, and began to recollect all those times Naruto had pranked him, had slept in class, had turned in sloppy homework - or none at all, had yelled out how he would be Hokage someday in class.

He had honestly believed him – he could see the spark in his eye even at that age. The spark that he saw in Lord Third Hokage's eye whenever he visited with the Academy students and talked about the way of the shinobi, his predecessors, and the Will of Fire.

But now Naruto was a missing-nin. What could have happened to him in his life to make him rescind his dream of being Hokage? What exactly-

"Iruka, right?"

The chuunin blinked as he was jettisoned out of his thoughts and back into the dimly lit world in front of him. Kakashi was speaking barely above a whisper.

"…Huh? Uhh, yeah, Iruka Umino."

Kakashi was looking straight ahead now, at the treeline across the river. Or maybe he was looking at the three stumps that stood between him and the river. Or maybe he was staring at his flak jacket, crumpled in a pile in front of the monument. Or maybe-

"What would you say a shinobi is, Iruka?"

Again, Iruka was shocked at how quickly his mind began to wander. Although it had been about a minute since the other man had spoken.

"Hmm. Well, that's a tough question. What we teach in the Academy is: a shinobi is someone who puts his life on the line in order to protect and strengthen his village, his home, and his fellow man."

Kakashi grunted in acknowledgement, before becoming silent again. This time, Iruka listened intently, waiting for his response. When none came, he sighed, and looked up at the stars.

"But what do you believe, personally? What is a shinobi to you?"

This time Iruka turned and looked at Kakashi. He hadn't moved at all since turning his head to look straight ahead; although his hands trembled slightly in his lap, the hands holding his headband tenderly.

"Well… I'd say that a shinobi is someone to trust, to be trusted by, to protect, to be protected by, to respect." Iruka turned his head back to the front again, focusing on the middle post ahead of him. "Someone that loves his village above all else."

A heartbeat.

This time, Iruka didn't wait for Kakashi to reply, instead asking his own question. "What about you? What's a shinobi to you?"

Kakashi chuckled once softly from beneath his face mask.

Another heartbeat.

Iruka was about to speak up again, before Kakashi cut him off.

"I had a friend once – his name was Obito." Kakashi sighed, obviously trying to prepare himself for what he was about to say. "He had a saying… 'Shinobi who break the rules are trash. But shinobi who abandon their friends are worse than trash.'

"He said that to me, after I essentially ordered him to leave our third teammate behind to die and continue on with a mission. We… I was on my first mission after being promoted to jounin, and was team captain while Minato-sensei was off fighting elsewhere. It was the Third Shinobi War, so we were stretched pretty thin as it was. I was nervous."

Kakashi looked back up at the moon. "Against my better judgment, I decided to follow him, knowing that us splitting up would be a death sentence. We ended up fighting our way into an enemy hideout together, and were finally bonding a little bit; becoming friends, even." He looked back down again. "Our relationship was very much like Sasuke and Naruto's back in the day. I was the calm, brooding 'genius'," Kakashi's hands went up as he made air quotes, "and Obito was the brash, loudmouth idiot."

He chuckled a bit, before continuing. "Thirty minutes after I finally figured out what being a shinobi meant to him, he died."

Iruka was shocked at the bluntness of Kakashi's words, but said nothing, expecting him to continue. When he didn't, he turned to see if Kakashi was okay.

Instead, he saw the jounin staring back at him, with both eyes open. His bright red sharingan eye was glowing faintly in the darkness, making Iruka shiver.

"He gave me this eye in his dying moments. With it, I am able to let him see the world from my point of view, and let him live out his life vicariously through me. I failed my comrade that day, but gained a true friend."

He turned back to the front, sharingan eye still open. He let the muscles in his neck go lax, making his head fall sideways and tap the side of the monument again, where it stayed.

"My father killed himself, when I was just a boy."

Iruka jumped slightly at the sudden, and rather significant, change of topic. He was genuinely surprised to see Kakashi open up like this – he was infamous for being a closed book, no matter how much people tried to pry (mainly Gai). This was probably the most he had ever spoken to anyone in a personal matter, and to be honest, Iruka couldn't understand why he was the one the man was opening up to.

Once again, his thoughts were interrupted by Kakashi's life story.

"He was ostracized by the village because he took the time and effort to save the lives of his comrades instead of finishing the mission he was undergoing at the time. The blatant harassment he experienced from the entire village, even from the people he saved, became too much, so he committed seppuku in our living room while I was still an Academy student. I came home one day and he was just…"

Iruka looked over and saw that Kakashi's eyes were both closed, and he was still just sitting there.

Another heartbeat passed before Kakashi spoke again.

"I dedicated my life after that point to following the Ninja Code to the letter. Comrades be damned." He chuckled at this, before opening his eyes again, this time looking at his jacket on the grass before him.

"After Obito died, Rin, my other teammate, died as well. And I was the one who killed her."

Another heartbeat.

"She had been captured by enemy shinobi, and during our rescue, she threw herself in front of me while I was attacking another ninja with my Chidori. She took a direct hit to the heart, killing her instantly."

Heartbeat.

"I was so distraught that I threw myself completely into my work, and joined the ANBU. I became a ruthless killing machine, devoid of emotion. But at least I still had Minato-sensei, who helped me come to terms with my grief and supported me unconditionally. That was, of course, until he died too. Although this time, at least, I wasn't involved somehow." He gave a hollow, humorless chuckle.

"Then, the Third Hokage recommended that I take on a genin team to help ground me more; to help pull me out of my endless cycle of depression." He sighed, before continuing again. "I had several teams before the one you know of as 'Team Seven' came to be. I failed them all ruthlessly because I was bitter and angry at their youth and liveliness. Lack of teamwork was a big piece of it, but I would be lying if I said I didn't have some personal grudge that prevented me from being your normal run of the mill jounin-sensei.

"Then I met Naruto and his team. They were bold, brash, and brooding. They were loud, obnoxious, and quiet, all at the same time. They were a miserable excuse for a team… until they weren't. So I passed them." He coughed, before looking back up at the sky. "I saw a lot of myself in Sasuke – a brooding, young genius who was angry at the world and our way of life. But… I also saw myself in Naruto as well. I saw him as everything that I could have been, until I had forsaken myself."

Iruka looked over at Kakashi intently, curious as to all of this fit together. Kakashi sighed again, and continued his monologue.

"Then, one by one, I lost them all. Well, Sakura may be physically here, but her mind is in tatters after everything she's gone through. Again, reminds me a lot of myself." He chuckled once. "Sasuke was too lost in his quest for revenge to be properly brought back out into the light again.

"But Naruto…" he stopped, trying to grasp some sort of explanation for the feeling he had. "Naruto never stopped, never gave up, never became something he wasn't. He was true to himself." He smiled weakly. "Until now. I don't know what happened entirely, but Naruto was lost to me as well.

"I had a lot of my hopes riding on Naruto's success, because I saw Naruto as the last bastion of my humanity; an anchor point for my soul. He kept me tethered, let me understand that no matter the hardships, it's possible to set it all aside for the greater good, and do it all with a smile."

Kakashi sat up slightly, and turned to look at Iruka again. "But now that I've lost him too… I don't honestly know if I can do it anymore. I've killed hundreds of people, and felt no remorse for any of them. And yet his death, a death that isn't even on my hands, feels the guiltiest of them all. I feel like I am to blame for this somehow, even though I know that I'm not. It was all out of my hands. And yet I still feel like my soul was finally crushed, after chips had been knocked off of it my entire life."

He closed his eyes, sighed, and looked at the forehead protector he held tightly in his hands, leaning his head against the monument again.

"That's why I am honestly considering resigning tomorrow. I don't deserve this position, or the honor of being called a shinobi. I can't save my friends, I can't save my comrades, and most importantly, I can't save myself. Although, in a way, they're all the same." He smiled weakly, eyes still closed.

"Stop it."

Kakashi's eyes opened slowly, as he turned to look at Iruka's disgruntled face staring back at him.

Iruka was angry – angry at himself, angry at the world, and angry at the man in front of him for being so sorry for himself. "I understand that you've had a terrible life. We all have, in our own ways. But giving up after something like this isn't like you. It isn't like a shinobi. It isn't like Naruto." He sighed, and looked up at the stars. "I've been thinking a lot about things like this for a while now. Naruto was basically everything I knew a shinobi should be. It was inspiring to watch him grow, develop his skills, hone his talent. The boy had an amazing life ahead of him. And circumstances determined that his time had come, and he became a missing-nin. It was a big blow to my spirit as well, watching someone I considered to be a living personification of the Will of Fire be extinguished in a flash. But so what? No one's perfect. We all make mistakes. Hell, I know I've made my fair share of them." He looked back at Kakashi, who was simply looking at the ground in front of him, staring off into space. "I understand that you saw yourself in him, and that's admirable. I feel the same way. His bubbly happiness made my day, even with all the pranks and tricks and bad mouth and childlike attitude. But… just because he's gone, at least the Naruto we used to know is gone, doesn't mean we can't stop living by his principles. I definitely agree that it's depressing to think about, but the Will of Fire isn't just one belief, set in stone. It's fluctuating, like fire itself. It changes from person to person, molding to their ideals. We all follow our own Will of Fire, and it's important that we keep doing so."

Iruka stood up, and walked in front of the jounin. "You have done incredible things in your life. You have done some not so incredible things as well, but don't let them cloud out the things that matter. Remember the good times you had, with your original team, and with Team Seven and Naruto. Don't give up on yourself yet, because there's still a lot of life to live, and a lot of good experiences to have. And hell, you'll make mistakes again. You'll probably make some big ones, ones that'll change your life considerably whether you like it or not. But don't blot out the good bits."

He smiled down at the flabbergasted shinobi before him. "And don't forget that Naruto is still out there, struggling to exist in this world. Dead or alive, a piece of him is still fighting for what it believes in, and we should throw everything we have at supporting him."

Iruka bent down, and grabbed the forehead protector out of Kakashi's trembling hands. "Close your eyes," he instructed, to which Kakashi dumbly nodded and complied.

"Now, I told this to Naruto back in the day when he and I had to deal with Mizuki, damn near 5 years ago now." He unwrapped the forehead protector, and tied it around Kakashi's head. Kakashi opened his eyes, and looked back up at the chuunin in front of him.

"Congratulations, you passed."

Iruka chuckled, and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Now, I know that rank is kind of an issue here, and you're a seasoned, battle hardened shinobi while I stay back and teach classes on the sorts of things you do, but I can safely say that you passed this trying time in your life and you're ready for your next challenge, whatever it may be." He stuck out his hand for Kakashi to grab, inviting him to stand up. The jounin blinked, and took hold of Iruka's outstretched hand, pulling himself up for the first time in several hours.

Iruka stood there with a big smile on his face, reaffirming what he had said earlier. Kakashi smiled back honestly for the first time that night, and reached up to his forehead protector and pulled it down over his left eye.

"Thanks, I needed that," he eye-smiled, before putting his hands in his pockets. "Now I see what Naruto saw in you."

Iruka sweatdropped. "What's that supposed to mean? What did you think I was before this?"

Kakashi chuckled, and bent over to grab his flak jacket. "I should probably get going. I've got a task force to coordinate."

Iruka grinned, still rubbing the back of his neck. "So I've heard." He suddenly looked Kakashi straight in the eye with a determined glint. "Give 'em hell."

Kakashi gave the chounin instructor a thumbs up and an eye smile, and shunshined away, leaving nothing but a swirl of leaves and a content Iruka, who began walking back to the village.

* * *

Sakura spent the next few hours wandering around the village aimlessly. After Kakashi's sudden disappearance during their time at the library, the Hokage had decided to meet up again the next day to discuss more in detail everything that they saw.

So he had really died. She couldn't believe it at first, even after their run-in during the Gaara rescue mission. His figure was decrepit and falling apart then, so she could only imagine what it might have felt like if he WAS still alive in that body. It would have been nothing short of excruciating.

She shuddered. Being a medic ninja meant she had a pretty good eye for things like that. And all of her alarm bells had been going off at the time.

Now she just had confirmation.

After the sun went down and everyone in the village went in for the night, Sakura was surprised at just how deserted the well-frequented parts of the Leaf village became after dark. The only thing she could see moving at all for block after block were the clouds of insects hovering around the buzzing streetlamps. The warm, early autumn heat still clung to the earth like an infant child to its mother, and it radiated off of the crushed stone pathway as she walked along, back to her home above her parents' shop.

Before she could open the door, however, she turned to see Shikamaru slowly meandering his way down the gravel street in her direction. Now, anyone who didn't know the cloud-watching shadow man would see this slow shuffle down the street as a sleepy and bored trudge, but Sakura knew better. This was maximum overdrive for Shikamaru.

She paused outside her door and waited another few moments for him to walk up to her. Once he was within a comfortable talking distance, he pulled out the leather-bound notebook and held it up in his hand.

"There's still more memories."

Sakura looked at him like he had grown a second head. "But you saw it as much as I did. He died, right there on the ground in that clearing. There's no way he could have any memories after that because he's dead."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Did you ever wonder how he managed to seal these memories in the first place, if he died there like we think he did?"

Sakura frowned, and narrowed her eyes. "Are you saying that you think he's still alive?"

"Well, crazier things have happened. We are ninja, after all."

She sighed, and sat down on the front step of her house, running her hand through her hair. It had long since degraded into a matted mop of pink, and she couldn't wait to get inside and take a nice, long, thoughtful shower.

"Alright, well, if that's the case, what should we do now?"

Shikamaru sighed, and put the notebook back inside his flak jacket. "Well, I just got back from the Hokage's office to let her know, and she says to meet up at the same place tomorrow morning, same time. Next on my list is Kakashi, and I just know he'll be troublesome to track down."

"Troublesome, you say?"

Kakashi appeared behind the two of them in a swirl of leaves, and gave a small wave.

Shikamaru didn't seem too fazed about the theatrical appearance, and just turned around and yawned. "Thank goodness. Now I can finally go home. I take it you got most of that?"

Kakashi nodded, and pulled out an orange book from the pouch on his waist. "Yep. Same time tomorrow."

"Alright then. Well, I'll see you both around then." And he started walking off towards the Nara compound.

Kakashi became absorbed in his book, and started walking off in the other direction, leaving Sakura just sitting there, still surprised that Kakashi had appeared so suddenly like that. After a few more moments, she smacked herself on the cheek a few times.

' _Get yourself together, girl! He does that every time he thinks he's being sneaky. You should be used to it by now.'_

* * *

The next morning, the self-proclaimed "Memory Squad" assembled once again in the musty old room at the back of the library. Tsunade was being badgered by Shizune about alcohol and paperwork when Sakura walked in, quickly followed by Shikamaru, who had his hands in his pockets and a blade of grass hanging out of the side of his mouth. Shizune was given the boot, much to Tsunade's glee, and the three of them sat down at the table, book in hand, and waited for their ever-tardy compatriot.

Surprisingly, they didn't have to wait very long. Kakashi walked in with a cyan-colored book in his hand, and looked up when he saw the trio staring back at him, looks of shock etched on their faces.

Kakashi stared dumbly back at them. "Umm… is there something on my face?"

Shikamaru smirked. "You're actually on time for once."

Kakashi jumped, pulled back his glove, and looked at his watch. "Huh. I guess I am. Imagine that."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "And since when have you started wearing a watch?"

The silver-haired copy nin simply gave an embarrassed eye-smile, shrugged, and took his seat.

After Kakashi put his book away, Shikamaru opened up to the bloodied page in the journal that contained the seal, and looked back up at the people gathered around him.

"Alright. So there's apparently more to this seal. A bunch more."

The Hokage looked up at him from her folded fingers, and grunted. "I figured as much. How would he have sealed his memories away if he had actually died there?"

"But… we all saw it. We all _felt_ it. He definitely died there. There's no mistaking it," Sakura stated.

"You're right," Tsunade agreed. "But that's not necessarily the end. We'll just have to watch and see, I suppose." She turned back to Shikamaru, and nodded.

The boy coughed, and looked down at the bloody page in front of him. "Well, after everyone left for the night, I stayed behind and played around with the seal a little longer. It felt weird that it just faded to black after he died, so I kept playing the memories for a while. It took about an hour, but something actually came up."

Tsunade grunted. "Crafty brat. Leave it to him to pull something like that."

Shikamaru smirked, and nodded. "Yeah, that's what I thought. I didn't watch much further than that, so it's all a mystery to me as well."

Kakashi leaned forward onto the table and looked over at the Nara boy. "Alright then. Let's get started again, shall we?"

Shikamaru nodded, channeled some chakra into the page, and their visions went black again, similarly to how they had after Naruto had died in the previous memory.

"I sped forward about an hour, so it should start here any moment."

* * *

 _There was the deafening sound of silence, and blinding darkness. Several moments passed, but suddenly a violent sound ricocheted off the walls of a very large room, causing Naruto to jump awake._

 _Drip._

 _He blinked a few times, and tried to adjust to the new environment he was in._

 _'Is this hell?'_

 _He stood up, and took a dazed look around at his surroundings._

 _He blinked a few times when he realized where he was._

 _His mindscape._

 _Drip._

 _Naruto took a staggered step forward, but stumbled and crashed down onto the watery floor below him. He noticed that it was uncharacteristically dark in his mind, but everything looked the same to him. He couldn't see any further than two or three feet in front of him, but he could make out the outline of the gate a few feet away._

 _He sat up again in the darkness, and stretched his arms out with a silent yawn._

 _WHACK!_

 _He immediately withdrew his hands back to his chest, and turned around quickly to try and figure out what had hit him. But it was dark – very dark. He couldn't see anything._

 _'Was that the Kyuubi? Am I on the wrong side of the seal?'_

 _A sense of panic overcame him suddenly, and he rushed towards the sealed gate, trying to get to the safe side as quickly as he could. If the Nine-Tails was awake again, that would be very bad. And if Naruto had actually died, like he thought he did, then there was little to nothing stopping him from breaking free of the seal and escaping._

 _As he approached the dimly lit gate room, Naruto noticed immediately that something was off. For one thing, the gate had shrunken considerably, and was now much too small for him to squeeze through. He frowned._

 _'Is this because I died? Is the seal shrinking or something, in order to prevent the Nine-Tails from escaping?'_

 _He plopped himself down next to the seal, and turned around to try and get a glimpse of the Nine-Tails, if it was indeed after him. He saw nothing but darkness._

 _Sighing, he looked through the gate to see if he could see anything out of the ordinary on the side he was supposed to be on._

 _Much to his surprise, he saw a tiny person on the ground, facefirst, surrounded by water. He squinted to try to get a better look at the individual, because he was far enough away to where Naruto couldn't make out any distinguishable features. His eyes adjusted to the light on the other side of the room, and he blinked a few times before he recognized something eerily familiar._

 _A beam of chakra was coming off of the person, and floating across the room to his body._

 _And it was completely red._

 _He watched in a confused daze as the chakra seemed to be pulled off of the body on the floor like a noodle, floating tenderly through the air. He was having trouble thinking still, and was very dizzy. Naruto couldn't understand why his head was so clouded, but he tried his hardest to stay focused and try to figure this situation out._

 _Not long after, the red beam of chakra began to thin out, and taper off until it was needle-thin. After a few moments of this much lesser amount of chakra channeling away into the darkness, it stopped completely._

 _Suddenly, there was a white flash of light, and a 'bang!' erupted from the figure in the water. Naruto turned just in time to see a red spectral figure, tethered to the thin beam of chakra, fly through the air and slam into him, knocking him backwards with a stifled grunt._

 _Suddenly, his foggy head cleared up completely, and he was able to think properly again._

 _'What the hell was that?'_

 _He didn't get much time to think, because suddenly, he heard a sound that eerily reminded him of the wind as it picked up through the trees in the Leaf village._

 _Naruto looked back through the bars at the figure on the floor in front of him, when suddenly there was a golden flash of light at the opposite end of the room, towards the sewer entrance._

"Wait… that flash… that's eerily familiar…" Kakashi whispered.

 _Naruto blinked a few times. He could have sworn he was staring at a man, probably six feet tall. Just seconds before, no one had been there, and no one other than himself and the Nine-Tails had ever been in this room._

 _But there he was._

 _He was too far away for Naruto to make out any details – although he was much taller than the other figure, he was also much further towards the back end of the room and thus harder to make out._

 _That was, of course, until he ran forward and fell on his knees in front of the other._

 _"Naruto? Naruto! Hey? Hello?" He started to shake him violently by the shoulders, but the figure simply slouched forward lifelessly in his arms._

 _"Wh… what? Why… I thought I…" the man started choking on his own words, as tears began to fall from his eyes._

 _He was now close enough for Naruto to get a closer look. With a squint, he was able to make out a green standard Leaf village jounin flak jacket, a blue undershirt, and a mop of messy blond hair._

 _But what startled him the most was the billowing white cape that followed behind him, embroidered with flames across the bottom and adorned with a series of kanji in a bright, blood red color across the back._

 _'Fourth Hokage.'_

 _Naruto jumped, and blinked a few times, before collecting himself and looking again._

 _The man was bent over the other figure, who was now lifted out of the water and forced into a one-sided hug with the man._

 _Naruto couldn't help but gasp when he saw the figure properly for the first time._

 _It was him – his body._

 _'Wh… what the hell?'_

* * *

"Is… is that who I think that is?" gaped Tsunade. Kakashi was wide-eyed and opening and closing his mouth over and over again, grasping for words. The two younger ninja were just sitting there, confused, watching the Hokage and jounin flounder in regards to the new arrival.

Finally, Kakashi dumbly nodded, before saying rather shakily, "That, right there, is the Yellow Flash of the Leaf, Minato Namikaze – otherwise known as the Fourth Hokage."

Sakura and Shikamaru both shot back in their chairs, and began to strain further to make out the appearance of the blond man that was suddenly in Naruto's mind.

"What? Are you serious? That's him?! He looks completely different in pictures and on the mountain!" Sakura was still in serious shock, as she leaned forward even more in her chair, as if to try and get closer to the man in the memory.

"How… how on earth… WHY on earth is he in Naruto's head?" demanded Tsunade, a little more harshly than she meant. Kakashi just shrugged at her, still wide-eyed, just as confused as the rest of them.

* * *

 _Minato Namikaze, in his dying moments, sealed the last of his life force away in the body of an infant child._ His _infant child. He placed it there in the event that one of two things happened – either Naruto tried to break the Kyuubi's seal himself… or he died, so he could take care of resealing the Nine-Tails somehow._

 _Not that he'd know what to do if that happened._

 _He just prayed it wouldn't come to that. It was his son; he had high hopes for him. There was little doubt in his mind that it would be the former that would bring out his consciousness again and he'd get the opportunity to have a lovely – albeit brief – chat with his boy when he was older._

 _As the last bit of his life was drained away out of his body and into the boy's belly, he smiled, eagerly awaiting the chance to meet his son, all grown up, as his body went limp and cold._

 _And then, suddenly, he was standing in the middle of his son's mind._

 _He blinked a few times, looking around for a moment, until his eyes rested on the slip of paper with the kanji for "seal" inscribed on it._

 _So the seal wasn't broken._

 _He jumped when he realized what that must mean, and frantically looked around the room further._

 _That's when he spotted an orange-clad boy, lying face-first in the murky water a few yards away._

 _His heart stopped for a moment, and he took a few deep breaths, closing his eyes in the process. 'Maybe this is just a joke. Maybe he's actually trying to be funny or something. This is Kushina's son we're talking about, right?'_

 _He mentally let out a hollow chuckle before opening his eyes._

 _No, they weren't deceiving him. He was standing above Naruto's body._

 _"Naruto? Naruto! Hey? Hello?"_

 _He grabbed his son by the shoulders, desperately trying to wake him up, as if he was simply dreaming. He shook him repeatedly, until he touched his skin and immediately knew._

 _He really was dead._

 _Minato fell to his knees, eyes empty, but quickly beginning to harbor tears that began to drip down his face and onto his son's lifeless body beneath him._

 _He cradled the boy in his lap for a few moments, taking in every detail. He was young – probably still only fourteen or fifteen years old. His skin was just short of falling off his bones._

 _Most startling, however, was the crop of loose orange hair that was sprouting off in many different directions._

 _Now, Minato hadn't had much time with his son before he was killed, but he_ was _able to see enough of Naruto to determine that he should have had blond hair, much like his own. In fact, the shape and flow of his hair was much like how Minato's own had been when he was younger; before he let it grow out more and over his face. But instead, it was orange. This confused Minato greatly._

 _His face was adorned with six sharp whisker marks, three on each cheek. He smiled, remembering how they looked on his infant son what felt like five minutes ago to Minato. He had quickly deduced that it must have been a result of being the child of a jinchuuriki, but it was still a surprisingly unique birthmark._

 _Minato's smile was short-lived, when he remembered why he was here._

 _His son, the one he trusted so much with, had died somehow._

 _"Wh… what? Why… I thought I…" he sputtered, trying to come to terms._

 _Instead, he pulled Naruto's body into a warm embrace. It wasn't much, but it did help numb the pain slightly._

 _And that's when he heard a slight gasp come from beyond the sealed cage._

 _Minato's eyes darted back to the gate, and an enormous amount of rage began to build up inside of him. He placed his son back down in the water, this time face-up, and stood to face the figure in the darkness._

* * *

 _Naruto immediately regretted letting that slight gasp loose when the Fourth Hokage turned violently and stared him down with a look that could kill._

 _The boy was startled at the amount of killing intent he was receiving from his lifelong idol – who was standing there, in the flesh, right in front of him._

 _Although he looked rather small, now that he thought about it further._

 _"YOU!"_

 _Naruto jumped at the screamed words. The Hokage was now on his feet, and walking towards the seal with his fists clenched and teeth barred. His brilliant blue eyes bore deep into Naruto's, and terrified him._

 _He was mad…_ very _mad._

 _Naruto jumped up and immediately began to step back to keep his distance from the deranged man. He didn't understand why the Hokage was turning on him of all people for his own death. Did he think that he had died a dishonorable death? Sure, it wasn't glamorous, but it was certainly better than dying of old age long after one's prime._

 _As Naruto stepped away, he tripped, and fell backwards. The Hokage, however, was still fast approaching, and was now about to enter the seal._

 _And so, he began to try and crawl backwards to escape from the rage that was seeping off of Lord Fourth like some sort of faucet._

 _"You… you destroyed my home… destroyed my family, and took my life. And now, to top it ALL OFF!" His voice began as a husky whisper, and ended with a bellow of pure hatred, "You killed my only son!"_

 _Naruto blinked. 'Wait, what? Did he just say…?'_

 _"…Son?" whispered Naruto._

 _Except it wasn't Naruto's voice that leaked out of his mouth._

 _It was the Kyuubi's._

 _His eyes went wide and he froze._

 _Minato also froze, after hearing the voice of the demon fox ask something that he knew it already knew._

 _"Don't patronize me, Kyuubi! You know DAMN WELL what that boy was to me! Naruto was family! He was my son! He was my legacy! And you're just too PITIFUL to respect us 'puny' humans and our way of life!" He kicked some of the water on the ground in front of him, and it shot off across the room, misting the entire darkening space with a thin jet of liquid. "You couldn't just LEAVE US THE HELL ALONE!"_

 _Naruto was about to speak again, when a yellow flash appeared in front of his eyes, and suddenly slashed out at him. Then, it was gone, and he felt a gash appear on his forehead._

 _Where his forehead protector should have been._

 _'Why don't I have my shinobi headband on? What…?'_

 _Suddenly, another series of gashes appeared across his body, and he screamed in agony as the man that had just confessed to be his father brutally assaulted him in the dark confines of the seal._

 _"Please…! Lord Fourth! Why… Please…!" he grunted in pain, before falling sideways to the ground with a soft_ thump. His voice was still eerily similar to that of the Kyuubi's before he… died…

 _He watched as the man approached him again, two tri-kunai held out in front of him, dark black writing emblazoned on each. This time, he froze for a moment, a look of apprehension his face._

 _"Oh, so I'm_ 'Lord Fourth' _now, huh? Too bad you couldn't have respected my title, my position as defender of my village BEFORE you started trying to blast it to pieces!"_

 _And the barrage of attacks began again, and Naruto could only close his eyes, cover his face with his hands, and curl up in a ball to try and defend himself._

 _Wave after wave of slices, kicks, and stabs inebriated the boy with unimaginable pain – and all he could do was try to prevent himself from sobbing._

 _Why was he doing this? Was he mad at him for dying?_

 _What was going on?_

 _Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Naruto, the attacks stopped, and he heard the Hokage gracefully land on the water with a soft 'plop' sound between him and the gate._

 _"Now then… as much fun as it is to hack and slice into you in the dark, I think I'd like to see the extent of the damage I've caused properly."_

 _He snapped his fingers, and the entire sealed portion of the hall was bathed in a harsh yellow glow._

* * *

 _Minato was angry – more angry than he had ever been in his entire life. This fox had taken everything away from him – his life, his love, his son. And he'd be damned if he'd fade out of existence before giving it the beating it deserved, even if he knew in the back of his head that he couldn't actually do any significant damage to the chakra beast. It was immortal, after all._

 _But that didn't mean it couldn't experience pain._

 _And Minato readily took advantage of that._

 _After minute upon minute of brutal taijutsu combat, Minato noticed that he wasn't experiencing any resistance whatsoever. In fact, the Kyuubi seemed pretty placated. 'Did the piece of shit fox finally grow a conscious? Hmm, maybe some good came of him being sealed inside Naruto for this long after all.'_

 _"Please…! Lord Fourth! Why… Please…!"_

 _Minato blinked at the begging from the beast. 'Now this DEFINITELY isn't like the Nine-Tailed Fox at all.'_

 _He narrowed his eyes and stared into the darkness where he could faintly make out the outline of the great demon fox. 'Just what is it playing at, exactly?'_

 _"Now then… as much fun as it is to hack and slice into you in the dark, I think I'd like to see the extent of the damage I've caused properly."_

 _There was a slight pause, before he sheathed one of his kunai, and snapped his fingers._

 _Suddenly, a brilliant explosion of light in the sky appeared high above them, illuminating the entire darkened portion of the gated sewers magnificently._

 _Minato smirked at his handiwork, then turned back to the Kyuubi to begin another round of harassment._

 _But he stopped dead in his tracks._

 _What he saw in front of him was the great Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, in all its glory, curled into a ball, shielding its face with its hands, trembling terribly and trying to suppress violent sobs._

 _"Wh..what? What's gotten into you?"_

 _The fox jumped at his sudden change of demeanor, and looked up slightly from behind its huge limbs. Its large, blood-red, slitted eyes were wide with fear, and tears were streaming out of them like the leaky pipes that surrounded its cage._

 _It was, for lack of a better term, terrified._

 _Minato blinked, and was about to open its mouth, when the beast seemed to take notice of its own appearance, much to his confusion._

 _The beast's eyes went wide with shock, as it held its arms out in front of it shakily. It looked down at its body, and jumped at what it saw._

* * *

 _Naruto was just glad that the Hokage's barrage had finally stopped. He was still coming to terms with the many things that had just happened, and it was all just too much. He couldn't help being afraid. First he finds out he's dead, then the Fourth Hokage appeared, then the man called him his SON, and now he was relentlessly attacking him – seemingly, unprovoked._

 _It was all too much._

 _"Wh..what? What's gotten into you?"_

 _Naruto looked up and over his arms to see the now completely illuminated form of the blond-haired hokage standing a few yards away from him, with a concerned look on his face._

 _He couldn't understand why the man had gone from killer attack dog to the way he was now in such a short period of time._

 _That's when he realized that the lights were on._

 _And it was also when he realized that his arms were completely covered with orange fur._

 _He jumped up to his knees, and started staring at every little detail of his body. His hands were just as covered as the rest of his arms in the burnt red-orange colored hair, and sharp, black claws jutted out of the tips of each of his fingers. He flexed them once or twice, just to come to terms with the fact that these were, in fact,_ his _, and blinked a few times._

 _'What…?'_

 _Then, his gaze shifted down to the rest of his body._

 _The first thing he noticed was that he was completely naked – and in front of the Hokage himself. But that was soon dwarfed by the next realization that slammed into him like one of Tsunade's chakra-infused punches._

 _The body he was looking down at,_ his _body, was the Kyuubi's. His chest and lower stomach were completely coated in orange fur, and it continued down his legs to a set of clawed feet as well – although they were much more like paws than anything else. He had also lost any sense of his… gender._

 _He gulped and looked down at the water, afraid of what he would see._

 _Two crimson-red eyes looked back at him, down the muzzle of a very fox-like face. The orange fur was everywhere – even his cheeks and forehead. His large mop of blond (and then soonafter orange) hair was now gone, replaced by two fox ears that stuck up and out of his head at an angle._

 _The fox's face –_ his _face – no longer looked even slightly decayed, like it had when Naruto had investigated his tenant's quiet streak a few weeks prior. It was instead vibrant and lifelike, just like he had always remembered the Kyuubi being._

 _He jumped back a bit, startled._

 _WHACK!_

 _That's when he was hit once again from behind, this time in the back of the neck. This wasn't like the beating he was getting from the Fourth earlier. This was similar to when he first woke up and tried to stretch._

 _His neck shot around to see what it was that hit him._

 _Considering what he had just seen on his face and his body, he should honestly have been prepared for what he saw next. But still, the shock and realization hit him hard._

 _Nine bushy tails were swirling around behind him, connected at a single point at the end of his back. They were all the same rusty-orange color as the rest of him, but there was a small blond streak that ran down the center of each tail, almost like a highlight._

 _They also seemed to have a mind of their own, which was quickly demonstrated when one shot forward and bopped him across the nose, causing him to stumble back a bit._

 _Naruto froze completely, tails and all. He blinked a few times, wide-eyed, and took a deep breath._

* * *

 _As all of this was happening, the Fourth was simply standing aside and watching with mild amusement. He was still enraged, but it looked to him like the Kyuubi had had some sense knocked into him after all._

 _Then, suddenly, the fox opened its mouth._

 _"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"_

 _Minato winced as the beast in front of him bellowed out his question, but stood tall and still in front of it._

 _Then, surprisingly, the beast collapsed onto its backside, and crossed its legs, leaning its head into its hands. "What the hell…"_

 _"You really don't sound like the Kyuubi I remember. Did I break something important?" mocked Minato with a smirk._

 _The beast looked up at him with a confused expression etched across its face._

* * *

 _"You really don't sound like the Kyuubi I remember. Did I break something important?"_

 _Naruto blinked at the Hokage, who had his arms crossed in front of him and was sporting a venomous smile on his face._

 _'He just called me Kyuubi… is this…'_

 _"Is this hell?" he whispered. "Why am I here? What's going on?"_

 _Minato's façade crumbled a bit, but he quickly rebuilt it. "What do you mean, 'why am I here'? I sealed you here! Is your memory really that bad?"_

 _Naruto blinked. 'Does he really think I'm the Kyuubi?' He took another look at himself briefly. 'Then again, I think I'm the Kyuubi too. This is so confusing…'_

 _He began to rub his head tenderly, as if trying to nurse a migraine. After a few moments, he stopped, and sighed._

 _'I suppose if I want answers, I should ask the Fourth. He may be mad for some reason, and I don't even know why he's here, but…'_

 _"I… I don't know what I did wrong… but, I'm sorry anyways, Lord Fourth. Please forgive me." He then took a deep bow, resting his forehead in the watery sludge._

 _After a few moments of silence, he sat up, and looked down at the blond-haired man standing in front of him. His eyes were wide, and he was just looking at Naruto, opening and closing his mouth over and over again._

 _"I know you're angry, but please, can you help me? I don't know what's happening, I just woke up here…" Naruto said softly, before trailing off, still looking down at the ground in a sign of submission._

* * *

 _"Uh…"_

 _Minato was clearly not expecting_ this _to happen when he went after the Kyuubi. Figuring he had nothing better to do, and that the Kyuubi probably had information as to why his son died, he decided to humor the beast._

 _"…Okay… What's the last thing you remember? Besides me coming here and knocking you around, that is." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck._

 _The Kyuubi looked up at him briefly, then back down at the watery ground. "Well… I was setting up camp with the Pervy Sage-"_

 _Minato jumped when he heard the playful honorific. "What did you just say? Pervy Sage?"_

 _The Kyuubi blinked. "…Yeah, Jiraiya of the Sannin? He's always peeping on women all the time when he's supposed to be training me so I started calling him that." The beast gave a big toothy grin, which was unsettling to Minato, due to the size and sharpness of them._

 _The Hokage just stared at the Nine-Tails. 'What did he just say? He trains with Jiraiya-sensei? But that would mean…'_

 _"Wait… why would Jiraiya-sensei train you, a giant sentient blob of evil chakra?"_

 _The Kyuubi blinked. "That was my other question. Why am I in this body? I mean, the last thing I remember was a really painful feeling in my chest, and then going numb and falling facefirst into a creek next to the campsite Pervy Sage and I were staying at. He had already fallen asleep, but I couldn't, so I went out and looked at the moon for a little bit… then everything went faint… and I woke up here… like this..."_

 _Minato's eyes widened in horror. 'No… it can't be…'_

 _"Well, if you're not the Kyuubi, what are you then?" he whispered._

 _"Oh!" The Kyuubi gave the Hokage another toothy grin, and a thumbs-up. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. And I am definitely_ not _the Kyuubi."_

 _Minato stood there for a moment, before his legs gave out and he fell to his knees, eyes beginning to well up with tears._

 _"But I know who you are! You're the Fourth Hokage! The coolest one of them all! But I don't really know what you're doing here in my mind… this whole week has been really weird." He scratched his head with a finger, then suddenly went wide-eyed when he remembered he had huge claws to deal with now. "Ow!"_

 _Minato smiled slightly at the beast's antics – at Naruto's antics. It was a hollow smile, but it showed that at least the anger had subsided._

 _And was replaced with shame and guilt._

 _"Hey! I have an idea." The fox grinned at him, and weaved a hand seal, before poofing into a cloud of smoke._

 _Minato waved his hand in front of his face a few times to dispel the smoke in front of his face as it began to subside._

 _Standing in the water in front of him was a boy – about 14 or 15 years old – wearing an orange jumpsuit. His hair was a brilliant yellow, and his eyes, which were wide and full of life, were a dark, crimson red._

 _But it was Naruto._

 _He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, and grinned at the Hokage. "Whew, that's a little better. I still feel weird though."_

 _A few tears dripped down Minato's face, before he stood up, walked over to Naruto, and hugged him fiercely._

 _"Naruto… my son… I'm so sorry."_

 _Naruto's eyes widened in his father's arms. "Wait… you were serious when you said…"_

 _He pulled away from Minato a bit, and looked him in the eyes – crimson red meeting azure blue. Minato smiled warmly, but Naruto could feel the pain in his features._

 _Several moments passed as Naruto scanned the man's face, before his lip started to quiver and tears of his own began to develop._

 _"…Dad?"_


	9. Chapter 9: Naruto the Gallant (Pt 4)

_*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*_

* * *

 _ **Transformation**_ **Arc:**

 **Chapter 9 - The Tale of Naruto the Gallant (Part IV)**

* * *

Silence echoed through the library halls, as the events of the most recent memory began to filter their way through the minds of the Memory Squad. Shikamaru was just too shocked from the events that took place after Naruto's death to continue the jutsu – but nobody else seemed to notice, because they were all just as astounded.

Sakura blinked, before looking at everyone else. She apparently was the first out of the trance, because the other three were just staring off into the distance, like they had been before the memory seal had been shut off again. After a small _cough_ , she started talking, in a hoarse whisper.

"Okay… let's take this piece by piece…" she said, before swallowing. "First…"

"Naruto is the son of the Fourth Hokage?!" shouted Shikamaru, before turning to look at Kakashi. "What the hell? Why does no one know about this?"

Tsunade was the one to answer, as Kakashi was otherwise indisposed. "You have to understand that Minato Namikaze had many enemies. Especially in the Hidden Stone village, and less so the Hidden Cloud. But enemies nonetheless. He took out an entire battalion singlehandedly, in less than 30 seconds. He was an incredibly powerful shinobi. They would have undoubtedly gone after his son at every opportunity they had, for retribution." Her hands folded up in front of her face, as she looked down on the ground and leaned her forehead on them. "Now you know," she mumbled.

Sakura stood up, and walked over to a shelf, where a small book, meant for children to read to learn the history of the Hidden Leaf village, was placed. She slid it off the shelf, opened it, and skimmed through a few pages, before setting it back down on the table.

She then reached into the pocket of her waistline pouch, and pulled out a small wallet; after flipping through ryo and a few handwritten notes, she pulled out a small crinkled picture.

It was her team photo.

She smiled at its familiarity, before setting it down on the book, across from a page with a large photo of the Fourth Hokage, after his inauguration. He was wearing his Hokage robes, but his hat was off and in his lap, revealing his features completely.

She folded her team photo down the middle, before placing it directly next to Minato's picture.

She frowned. "How could I have not seen this before?" She passed the book over to Shikamaru, who just smirked.

"This is a pretty damn bad secret, if people had such easy access to the Fourth's photo like this," he said, handing the book back to Sakura. "I always wondered why most photos of him were restricted to the Hokage's office, and of course the Hokage Monument itself isn't really all that revealing."

Tsunade piped up again, now looking forward again. "Yes – this book was created just after Minato's inauguration. After Naruto was born, most publications about him were made top secret – that's why this seemingly harmless children's book is in the restricted section of the library."

Kakashi intercepted the book on its way back to Sakura's outstretched hand. "Let's see that, shall we?" He said with a smile.

He glanced at the photos for a moment, before speaking again. "Heh, he really does look like his dad when you look at them up close like that. But this isn't really a very good picture of Minato-sensei." He handed the book back to Sakura, but kept Sakura's photograph.

"Hey, that's right… why didn't you ever tell Naruto that you were taught by his father? I'm sure he would have been overjoyed to hear that," Sakura asked, frowning when her beloved picture was kept from her.

Kakashi eye-smiled back at her, as he rummaged around in one of the pockets in the front of his flak jacket. "For the same reason I didn't tell any of you. And besides, you all know as well as I do that if Naruto found out that he was the son of the Fourth Hokage, he wouldn't shut up about it. You know, the pedigree and all that." His smile increased when he found what he was looking for…

…a very weathered team photograph of his own.

Sakura looked at it with a shock – it was tattered and torn at the corners, and the color was slightly faded in certain parts. She raised an eyebrow with a frown. "Was he crying…?"

He took the photo gingerly, and laid Sakura's photo next to his own. "There – that's a much more accurate comparison." He handed the pair of pictures back to Sakura, who gasped at the similarities.

Minato was wearing a dark green flak jacket, over a blue longsleeved shirt. He wasn't wearing any of the traditional Hokage garb, nor was he wearing the cape that was shown in Naruto's memory – but it was undeniably him. His bright, almost fluorescent yellow hair was spiked off of his head, much in the same was Naruto's hair tended to shape itself into. However, a pair of blond bangs framed his smiling face. He didn't have any birthmarks on his cheeks, and his face was slightly different than Naruto's, but Sakura could tell immediately.

Then, she noticed the other three people in Kakashi's photo. He saw a girl with two red facial markings standing directly beneath and in front of him. 'She looks almost like an Inuzuka,' Sakura surmised. The girl was making two "victory" signs with her hands, and smiling into the camera. To her left was a boy, slightly taller than the girl – either that, or the girl was crouching, she couldn't tell which – that was wearing a blue and orange jacket, and, strangely enough, a pair of earmuffs and orange-tinted goggles. On the other side, much to Sakura's amusement, was a younger Kakashi – he was wearing a dark grey t-shirt, and had both eyes exposed. He was, however, still wearing a facemask.

She was honestly quite shocked at the similarities in each photo – both Jounin instructors had their hands on the two boys' heads, forcing them front and center, while the girl in the middle stood happily, seemingly unaware of the discontent going on behind her.

But Sakura couldn't get enough of how adorable the young Kakashi looked. She let out a giggle, and suddenly, the pictures were plucked from her fingers faster than she was able to detect.

"You were kind of cute," Sakura laughed, as the flustered Kakashi stuffed the picture back into his jacket. "And it was really surprising how similar our teams looked in those photos."

Kakashi suddenly darkened a little, and Sakura noted that she had struck a nerve. "You have no idea…" he mumbled, before returning Sakura's photo to her – now unfolded.

She smiled a little, and put the photograph back into her wallet, which was returned to the pouch on her waist.

Then, she remembered why they were there, and what they had just seen. "Okay… so we have established that Naruto is the son… of the Fourth Hokage…" She still couldn't believe it, even after the photo evidence was provided, "…but did anyone else catch what I caught? That Naruto really is the Kyuubi?"

"At least, in body, yes," Tsunade nodded. "This is bad… very bad. I don't know what this means for the boy, but it can't be good."

"Wait… what about the seal? Did he break free of the seal?" Shikamaru pondered out loud, and the other three frowned in agreement when they realized the implications. "I mean… if Naruto's body is dead, then how can he be still inside?"

"Hmm… I think I have a theory on that," Kakashi quipped. "I was under Minato-sensei's tutelage, remember. I was there when he was first researching and testing the Eight Trigrams Seal that he used to seal the Nine-Tailed Fox – at least, the _original_ Nine-Tailed Fox – into Naruto back when he was born." He leaned an elbow on the table, and looked off in the distance a bit, in thought, "If I remember correctly, the seal gains its strength from the life force of the body it is placed upon. Naruto's body was always under constant pressure from the Nine-Tails' presence, which is why he developed such massive chakra capacities. However, if the sealed entity doesn't struggle against it, it shouldn't draw any power –and therefore has no need to restrain him more than it already is."

Shikamaru turned and looked at the silver-haired man. "So you're saying that as long as Naruto doesn't push against it, he won't break free from its hold?"

Kakashi shifted back to front, and laced his fingers together, resting both elbows on the table now. "Pretty much."

"I see," came Tsunade's voice. She was obviously concerned about the now overly fragile state of the boy's seal, but it couldn't be helped. Besides, according to the reports, he was still sealed inside of his old body, so…

"Alright then," she said, breaking herself out of her own thoughts. "Are there any more memories?"

Shikamaru grunted in acknowledgement. "Yep. A few more. But we're coming to the end here."

Sakura grimaced. "I don't know how much more of this I can take. It's all too much to handle. Especially today's load. This is ridiculous." She rubbed her temples with her fingers, trying to force the memories down like the last bite of a bowl of her father's cooking.

Shikamaru sighed. "It has to be done, you know that, Sakura. Besides, this is incredible insight into the last moments of Naruto's humanity. And we're seeing the Fourth Hokage alive and well again." He placed his finger back on the sealed page. "But most importantly, this is intel for our task force. Very, very important intel."

Kakashi nodded. "I agree."

Tsunade sighed, and looked at Shikamaru. "Unfortunately, I can't keep putting off my Hokage duties for much longer. Shizune will verbally tan my hide if I waste any more time than I have to. So let's get started."

The boy nodded, and fired up the seal once more.

* * *

Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki were positioned at their typical positions as chuunin in the Hidden Leaf village – guarding the front gates.

Not that they ever did that great of a job at it.

Kotetsu was leaning back in his chair, fiddling with the large white bandage that wrapped around his face, while reading a book. Izuma, however, was leaning forward onto the desk in front of them, seemingly looking off down the path that led there and out to the horizon.

But he wasn't. He had fallen asleep.

After one particularly sudden and noisy snore from his partner, Kotetsu had had enough.

He socked the man's shoulder with his free hand, causing him to jump to attention.

"Wh-what? What's wrong? Are we under attack?" He stuttered, frantically looking around, brandishing a kunai.

Kotetsu just chuckled, and went back to reading his book. "Ha! No. I was just tired of hearing your lame ass snoring up a storm while I'm trying to read."

Izuma sweatdropped, and plopped back down into his chair, thumping his head on the table in front of him. "Damn it, Kotetsu, if you would stop slacking off, I wouldn't have to try to compensate for both of us. It's running me ragged."

The bandaged chuunin shrugged, and leaned further back in his chair. He looked over his book at his partner, who was already showing signs of falling back asleep, when a shrouded figure approaching the gate on the horizon caught his eye.

He immediately dropped his book on the table, once again forcing Izuma awake – who was about to start chewing him out again, when he noticed the startled look on his face.

"What's wrong? Is someone…" he trailed off when he followed Kotetsu's line of sight until he, too, noticed the approaching figure.

A few moments later, the figure was close enough for the pair to yell at.

"Stop where you are and identify yourself!" shouted Izuma. He received no response, as the shrouded shinobi approached further.

That's when they realized that the person was stumbling along – obviously in great pain. He was holding the left side of his chest with his hand, which was covered in blood. His abdomen was hastily covered in bandages, which were soaked through completely.

His hair was a vibrant white – at least, it should have been. The right half of it was singed and burnt – the rest was speckled in dried blood. He had a long katana strapped to his back over his right shoulder, which was also caked in blood – meaning he probably had been using it after being injured. His grey jacket was in tatters, leaving most of his darkened skin exposed to the sky.

But most startling to the two gatekeepers, however, was the insignia on his forehead.

It was a Hidden Cloud shinobi.

Izuma immediately ran back to the desk, slammed his fist down on a big red button, and pulled a kunai from his pouch.

Almost instantaneously, a squad of ANBU shunshined into formation at the front of the gate - each brandishing a weapon of choice.

But the shinobi kept coming – approaching shakily, but approaching nonetheless.

"…please…. I need to speak to the Hokage… I don't have much time… left…" he choked out, before coughing up blood, and stumbling to the ground.

* * *

 _Minato peeled himself away from Naruto, who now had tears streaming down his face. He was looking at his son. After all this time, he was going to be able to talk to him._

 _He couldn't help but smile at the thought._

 _"…Dad… I'm… I'm sorry I died…" Naruto choked out, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, as he looked away in shame._

 _"Naruto." Minato's voice was stern and convicting, and very fatherly – much to his own surprise._

 _The boy looked back up into his father's eyes, which were also wet with tears. "You're not the one that needs to apologize."_

 _Naruto's expression crinkled up into one of confusion. "Huh? What do you have to apologize for?"_

 _Minato chuckled, and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Well, for giving you that beating a minute ago, for one." His expression hardened, and he looked deep into his son's red eyes. "But… most importantly, for not being there for you. While you grew up, while you studied at the Academy, while you went out on your first few missions as a genin..." Minato saddened immediately, before lowering his own head. "I'm sorry I couldn't be your father."_

 _Naruto immediately reburied his head into his father's shoulder, who let out a slight "oof!" sound at the connection._

 _"Please, don't be sad. You did what you had to do, and without your sacrifice, I wouldn't have been able to meet any of my friends. Or you," he added after a moment, voice muffled by Minato's shirt._

 _Minato gently pulled his son away from him, and smiled at him warmly, eyes closed in happiness. His son was very brave._

 _"Thank you for saying that, Naruto."_

 _Then, he frowned a bit. "And you're not dead."_

 _Naruto blinked, before lowering his eyebrows. "Huh?"_

 _Minato grinned again, and rubbed that back of his neck. He did that a lot. "Well… it's just that earlier you said you were sorry for dying… and, well, you're not dead. You're here with me, after all."_

 _Naruto sweatdropped. "But you're here, and you're dead."_

 _His father shrugged with a small smile. "Well… actually, it's complicated." He stood up, hand still on Naruto's shoulder. "When I sealed the Kyuubi into youOOF-"_

 _He was cut off by Naruto's punch right to the gut – which sent him stumbling back a bit, while he stared at the boy in confusion and shock. Naruto's face was now contorted into one of anger._

 _"What the hell was that for anyway? Sealing the Nine-Tails in me, when I was a baby? Do you know how much crap I went through my entire life?! I know you did what you had to do, but did you have to seal that thing into me of all people? Why not someone else?!"_

 _Minato sat down in the water – both because of the shock of the question asked, and because of the pain from the sucker punch._

 _"Well… you have to understand that no one else would have volunteered their children to bear that burden. I wouldn't force it upon anyone else. It killed me to do it – literally – but I had no choice." He sighed, and leaned forward a little bit, setting his hands in his lap. "But mostly, I did it because I knew you could handle it. You have great potential, Naruto. I believe in you completely."_

 _Another neck rub. "Besides, you are my son, after all!" he grinned cheekily._

 _Naruto smiled a bit at his father's joke, before he walked over and sat down next to him. After a few moments of just relishing in each other's presence, Naruto finally spoke again._

 _"Wait… what were you saying before I punched you?" he said, before scratching his own neck in embarrassment, and smiling a bit._

 _Minato chuckled a bit to himself, before pulling his son in to a side hug. "Well… like I was saying, when I sealed the Nine-Tails inside of you after your birth, I did so because I knew you would be able to master its power. However…" he looked down at his son, who was watching him intently, "…I knew that you might run into a hiccup on the way. So, I sealed what was left of my life force away inside of you as a precaution – in the eventuality that you would break the seal somehow on accident. That way, at least, I could have this conversation with you, as well as to convert what little of my life I sealed away into chakra, allowing me to reseal the Nine-Tails away again."_

 _Naruto blinked. "But I didn't break the seal…"_

 _Minato sighed, anticipating the reaction. "Well, there was a second safeguard I set in place – one that would reanimate me after you… died."_

 _Naruto sat up off of his father's shoulder, and frowned at him. "But didn't you just say-"_

 _"Yes, I know what I said," Minato sternly replied. "You didn't die – at least your spirit didn't die – it's… it's incredibly complicated. I'll get to that in a minute." He smiled back down at his son. "Regardless, I'm here now. And as a plus, since I didn't have to sacrifice what was left of me to reseal the Nine-Tails, I can stay here with you for quite a bit longer."_

 _"Wait…" replied Naruto dumbly. "I thought you had your soul taken by the Shinigami when you sealed the Nine-Tails away into me? Lord Third told me that, back before he… died…" he trailed off after that, recalling the sad fate of his grandfather figure during his chuunin exams._

 _"Nope – I actually only sealed away half of the Kyuubi's chakra into you. The Yang half, that is. The rest I sealed into myself, using the Reaper Death Seal."_

 _Naruto nodded. "Yeah, but why didn't the reaper take your whole soul? I mean, when Lord Third used the Reaper Death Seal, he only cut away Orochimaru's arms, and he lost his whole soul just for that."_

 _Minato smiled grimly. "Let's just say that I had a lot more training with that Jutsu. It takes a tremendous amount of chakra to cut a deal with the devil like that, but since I only sealed away half of the Nine-Tails, the shinigami only took half of my soul. An eye for an eye, so to speak." He scratched at the space under his forehead protector. "Poor Hiruzen. To resort to that jutsu, considering his mastery of it… must have been one hell of a fight to force him to use it."_

 _Naruto nodded solemnly, nestling himself deeper into his father's arm. "That makes sense… I guess."_

 _A few heartbeats passed._

 _"So…" Naruto finally added, "What do we do now?"_

 _Minato sighed. "Well, it would help if you tell me what all has happened the last few weeks, considering you are now stuck inside the Nine-Tails' body. There's probably a way to reverse it, I just need to know more."_

 _Naruto quickly ran through his training regimen with Jiraiya, and up until he mentioned the sealing jutsu the Sannin used a few weeks ago, Minato was silent. When he heard his son say the name of the technique, he shivered, went wide in the eyes, and looked down at his son._

 _"Wait… did you just say 'Four Quadrants, Untamed Beast Seal'?"_

 _Naruto frowned, and nodded slowly._

 _Suddenly, Minato leapt up to his feet, causing Naruto to jump at the sudden loss of contact._

 _He ran across the seal border, and to the husk of a body that his son once inhabited._

 _He lifted the boy up into his arms, grimaced at the sensation of carrying a dead body so tenderly, and sprinted back across the seal to his actual son, who was standing at the sealed gate helplessly._

 _He quickly fell to his knees, set the body in the water in front of them, and ripped his shirt up, exposing the seal patterns to the Hokage._

 _Minato hung his head when he saw what he saw._

 _He admired his own handiwork for a moment, staring at the detail and intricacy of the Eight Trigrams Seal, before shifting his attention to the ring of symbols that surrounded it in four distinctive quadrants._

 _His worst fears had been actualized._

 _So it really was the Four Quadrants Untamed Beast Seal._

 _Suddenly, his rage began to bubble up to the surface again, and he slammed his fist down into the water, causing it to explode away from him in a rather vivacious manner._

 _Naruto jumped at his father's rekindled anger, and began to back away, in case he was at fault._

 _Minato gritted his teeth together. "Damn it, Jiraiya. You dare call yourself a seals master? This seal… it's forbidden for a reason!"_

 _Naruto stopped in his tracks. "Wait, forbidden?"_

 _Minato immediately uncoiled at the sound of his son's voice, and slumped over forwards in sadness. "Yes," he said quietly, as the cloud of mist from his outburst began to resettle around them._

 _Now it was Naruto's turn to get angry. "What?! What do you mean forbidden? What does this mean for me? Am I stuck like this?! Dad?!"_

 _Minato turned around to look at Naruto's exasperated face, before frowning, and looking down at the ground sadly._

 _He sighed, and fell backwards on to his backside, sitting next to his son's previously occupied body. "Please forgive me. I am usually not this brash." He sighed again. "Although I think I at least have an excuse. My son was sealed away into the body of the beast that was sealed inside of HIM, and it was done by none other than my own sensei."_

 _Seeing Naruto's confused face, be began to explain. "The Four Quadrants, Untamed Beast Seal was the signature sealing jutsu of the Tensou clan. They lived in a small village on the border of the Lands of Fire and Lightning. The Tensou had a close relationship with the Uzumaki clan, and thus, had a few very skilled sealing jutsu specialists among their ranks. I actually met a few of them, back before they wiped themselves out._

 _"They had a jutsu – a very powerful jutsu – that used seals to help them tame the wilderness around their rather… dangerous little village. There were many large beasts and other mean-spirited animals that would periodically attack them for no discernible reason, other than to cause havoc. The jutsu they used to combat these pests was only used as a last resort, for a very good reason._

 _"This jutsu, the Untamed Beast Seal, would use the caster's life-force to overwhelm and incapacitate the beast's. In the process, the mind would be transferred to the animal, leaving the host's body dead. Soon after, due to having such a strong mind inside of such a mentally weak body, the beast's body would also die – meaning it's completely irreversible. It was only ever used as an act of desperation, and one that ultimately led to the Tensou clan's demise; certain factions found the jutsu to be too morally ambiguous, while the rest saw it as a noble sacrifice worthy of a shinobi. But… then the Third Shinobi World War broke out… and they were caught in the crossfire between us and the Land of Lightning." He frowned. "And that was the end of that."_

 _Suddenly, he snapped back to attention. "Where did Jiraiya-sensei get this jutsu from? Do you remember?"_

 _Naruto blinked a few times, before nodding. "Yeah, from a village not too far from the border. I don't remember the name of it, but we went to an old, fancy library. All I remember was practicing chakra control while the Pervy Sage chased after some librarian girl."_

 _Minato sweatdropped. "Some sensei he was. I can't believe him." He sighed. "Actually I can. Anyways, do you remember him saying where in the library he was searching for jutsus?"_

 _The red-eyed boy frowned in thought, before shaking his head. "No, I was asleep." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "But… I do remember him saying he would search high and low, and in every cabinet and secret compartment if he had to. He said that's where the good stuff usually was."_

 _Minato palmed his forehead. "Yeah, I'm sure he did," he mumbled. "That damn pervert."_

 _The Hokage sighed again, before standing once more. "Well, that makes sense then. I just don't understand why the sealing jutsu didn't work exactly the way it was supposed to…" He trailed off as his eyes went back to the seal on Naruto's body's stomach._

 _He began to trace a few of the symbols that looked slightly different from the rest – like they were in a different handwriting._

 _"Aha. That tricky bastard. He thought it would have problems with the Eight Trigram's trickle charge chakra system. I suppose I could understand that." He shook his head. "But if he knew anything about seals, he would know that this seal doesn't transfer_ chakra, _per se, but rather life force. The chakra is drained in the process." He pursed his lips in thought, as he continued down the seal. "Ah yes, so he set it up on a trickle system not unlike the Kyuubi's seal, in an attempt to stabilize it and let it flow through the other seal freely. Very resourceful. That would explain the delay in life force transference…"_

 _Naruto just sat back and listened to his father mumble mumbo-jumbo about seals and sealing jutsus uninterestedly. He supposed that if the Fourth had anything important to tell him about his findings, he would do so in a language that a fourteen year old would understand._

 _Suddenly, a sharp pain ricocheted off of his upper chest, and he felt his chakra control slipping._

 _"Damn!" he said, as the henge failed and he suddenly reverted back into the form of the fox._

 _Minato heard the jutsu dispelling, and after the smoke cleared, he frowned at the 10-story high fox that was standing behind him, looking bored. 'It's still unnerving to see the great Nine-Tailed Fox standing there, pacified like that.'_

 _The big orange beast yawned, and plopped down next to Minato in a very Naruto-like manner._

 _"It's gonna be tough getting used to a different chakra. I can't keep my henges up for very long, before my chakra control slips."_

 _Minato nodded. "Yes, I can imagine. I'll have to teach you a stronger henge jutsu." He sighed, and stood up again, dwarfed by the beast in front of him. "I figured out why you're not dead. Well, at least, why the fox's body seems fine with you inhabiting it."_

 _Naruto blinked, and looked down at his father. "What do you mean?"_

 _"Well, the Kyuubi isn't really alive to begin with. It's immortal. Its body can handle your consciousness. By having your soul and chakra implanted in its body - that means you are now as well. Which means you actually accomplished - accidentally, I might add - something that a rival of mine spent decades of his life devoted to. Boy, I'm sure he'd have a field day if he got ahold of you." He frowned. "Not that I'd let that happen."_

 _Even though he was trapped inside his own decaying body, Naruto could have sworn he heard Orochimaru sneeze magnificently from across the five great nations._

 _Naruto snickered at the thought, then was brought back to reality when he heard his father's most recent words. "Wait… are you gonna stay with me? Seriously?!" Nine fluffy tails began swirling around behind him, rippling the water and Minato's hair quite significantly. He grinned back at the fox that was now his son._

 _"Well, of course. Now that I don't have to sacrifice the rest of my soul for enough chakra to reseal the Nine-Tails away, I can help you control its power, and keep you out of harm's way." His smile quickly turned to a grimace. "However, what I have in mind would require you to stay sealed in this cage for the time being. If word gets out that the Nine-Tails, even if it's just you, is on the loose again, there will be a massive clamor from every able-bodied nation to capture you and seal you away in some unsuspecting jinchuuriki."_

 _Naruto blinked. It was weird to think of jinchuuriki from the other perspective now – not as the jailor, but as the jailed._

 _Minato paused for a moment to let his previous statement sink in a bit, then continued. "However, the Eight Trigrams Seal wasn't designed to work off of a dead body. It requires an active chakra network – or, at the very least, a trickle of chakra flowing through it to stay locked. That means that all it would take is for you to lean against that gate, and it would break and you would be thrown out into the world."_

 _Naruto opened his mouth, revealing a set of sharp teeth – before Minato cut him off. "Don't worry, we'll be fine. I've been actively holding the seal shut with my own chakra since I got here. However, since I don't have a set of chakra coils, I can't regenerate any. That means my time with you is limited – and we have to get as much done as possible before I fade away."_

 _"What do you mean?" growled Naruto. Well, it wasn't really a growl, but everything the Kyuubi said that wasn't a powerful shout came out sounding that way._

 _He stretched his arms behind his head, and looked at Naruto in the eye. "I have a few weeks, maybe a few months at the most." He quickly decided to change the subject. "Just so you know, we are going to be training quite a bit while I'm here with you. I want to get you used to using the Nine-Tails' chakra as your own, and that means relearning all of your basic chakra control techniques, how to use your jutsus properly with this new body, and also a few other tricks I have up my sleeve."_

 _Naruto's face went from an expression of unimaginable anguish, then confusion, then overjoyed excitement. "Are you gonna teach me some of your cool moves?!"_

 _Minato smiled warmly. "Yep! You'll need all the help you can get now that you're a Tailed Beast. Everybody and their dead aunt is going to be after you once I'm no longer around – and that day will come sooner than either of us think, unfortunately."_

 _The fox saddened immediately. "Don't worry about it right now though. Think of it this way – you lived and thrived just fine without me before today, so you can more than handle it when the time comes," Minato quickly added, after sensing his son's depressed attitude._

 _"For now," Minato said, "We need to get you on your feet. Well, your dead body's feet. I think you can probably control your body like some sort of puppet, if you pump enough chakra into its system. And considering you've basically got unlimited chakra now, that shouldn't be a problem." He then turned, and looked at the sealed gate behind them. "I also want to teach you how to hold the seal closed yourself. The sooner you can get it down, the sooner I can stop using my own energy to keep it shut, and I should be able to stay with you for as long as I want to. It'll be tough, and you'll still have to be very careful with it, but I know you can pull it off." Minato smiled warmly at the fox, who was simply sitting there letting the information sink in._

 _"Alright then! I want you to try to push chakra through the seal – carefully, I might add – and see if you can see anything."_

 _Everything went black for a moment as Naruto shut his eyes in concentration, trying to accomplish what his father suggested, when suddenly Naruto's eyes shot open… and he was no longer in his mindscape._

 _He was in a white-walled, very sterile looking room._

 _A hospital._

 _"Oh, great," he mumbled to himself in his mind. "I'm in the damn morgue."_

 _"Hmm…" came Minato's voice from inside his own head. "I suppose that makes sense. If Jiraiya-sensei found you lifeless, face down in the mud, then he'd probably rush you to a hospital, where they'd verify that your physical body was dead." There was a moment of silence, as the Fourth Hokage thought to himself a bit. "Although I'm surprised the Jiraiya didn't notice that the seal hadn't faded. Or that the Nine-Tails escaped."_

 _Naruto pumped some more chakra into his body, and heard his father grunt from within his head. "Easy does it, now, Naruto. Don't try to force too much through at a time. I can only handle so much with the seal being the way it is."_

 _Naruto mentally frowned. "Does that mean I have to keep just trickling chakra into my old body until I build up enough to move?"_

 _Minato sighed. "Unfortunately, yes. Luckily, you have quite a bit of time to work with. Don't worry about doing it all at once like this. Pace yourself, do things slowly, and you'll be up and out of here in no time."_

 _Naruto nodded, as he shifted back down into his mind, before pouting a bit. "Fine. At least I can come here now, instead of having to actually be there."_

 _Minato chuckled. He was now leaning against one of the great pillars of the sealed gate, arms crossed, and head low. He sat motionless for a moment. Then, he let out a massive sigh._

 _Naruto blinked, and bent over to look down at his father. It was still unnerving to see him so small, but in all actuality, he was the same size as he was when he was Hokage. It was Naruto that was the wrong size._

 _Well, wrong size for a human. He was the Kyuubi now, after all._

 _"Dad… what's wrong?"_

 _Minato just smiled softly, then looked up to meet his son's massive red eyes. "Nothing is wrong at all. I'm just… relieved that what could have happened, didn't happen."_

 _The fox crinkled his brow is confusion. Minato just laughed a little, and pushed himself off of the pillar with his back. "What I mean is… I'm just glad that you're okay. You're in another body, but you're okay. That's all that matters to me. And… not to be selfish or anything-" Minato rubbed the back of his neck again with a cheeky grin, "-but I'm glad I get to spend some more time with you."_

 _Then, his expression hardened almost immediately. "But that being said, I think there's actually a way I can help you get back to normal."_

 _Naruto blinked, and smiled brilliantly, tails beginning to move again. "What? Are you serious?! You can reverse the process?"_

 _Minato shrugged, still with a smile on his face. "Well, it's worth a shot, I suppose! Now, listen closely. It'll be tough, and really dangerous, but we might be able to pull something off..."_

* * *

"LADY HOKAGE!"

Shizune burst through the doors of the library, panting heavily. She had a dozen or so scrolls stuffed into her hands haphazardly, and was struggling to keep them all from falling to the ground. Her hair was disheveled and askew, like she had been running from across the village, and it was now soaked in sweat. But her eyes were the most notable thing about her. They were wide open – in shock, in terror, in fear. She didn't know what to think.

When she came into the room, all four shinobi were sitting at the table, talking quietly amongst themselves, and all frantically scribbling notes down on whatever paper they could find. Tsunade in particular had a worried look on her face.

Then she noticed Shizune, and her look got even fiercer.

"Yes? What is it?" She said, in complete seriousness.

"Lady… Hokage… You… need to come… with me… immediately…" she panted, as she desperately tried to catch her breath in the doorway.

"Spit it out Shizune!" bellowed Tsunade, quickly standing up, bumping the table and sending her chair flying onto the ground behind her. Her compatriots all jumped and flinched unconsciously as their leader began to ooze anger like a leaky faucet.

Shizune's eyes only got more terrified. "You… We…" Then, she gulped, before looking down towards the ground.

"The Hidden Cloud Village has been completely eradicated."

* * *

 _THUMPTHUMP._

Two paled bodies hit the floor almost simultaneously, crumpling into each other in a pile of death. Their dimly lit surroundings barely provided enough light for their shining Hidden Cloud forehead protectors to be seen.

Hidan grunted and immediately collapsed into a sitting position on his perch. "Whew! That was a doozie. Tell me again why we're wasting all this damn time in the first place? I've been sitting still for so long that I have spiderwebs on my elbows. Not to mention how angry Lord Jashin is going to be when he doesn't get a sacrifice-"

"Shut up, Hidan," grumbled Kakuzu from the position next to him.

Hidan opened his mouth to retort, most likely in a profane manner, when Kyuubi spoke first, dual-voices resonating across the room.

"Are we done here? I have other matters to attend to." He grimaced, before flexing his shoulders and shuffling around a little on his spot in front of the Gedo Statue. "This body is starting to fail me."

The purple eyed leader raised an eyebrow. "Your body?"

Kyuubi sighed, before running through many complicated hand signs, his red eyes bristling in concentration. Finally, he snapped his fingers, and his form disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

After another few moments, the smoke began to dispel, and another man was standing before them.

One that the Akatsuki knew quite well.

His cloak was torn and tattered, just like the Kyuubi's was only moments ago. His skin was coming apart as well, and a violent cloud of red chakra could be seen swirling around underneath it. Apart from the facial features, everything looked startlingly familiar to his henge.

Most notably, however, was his brilliant blond hair, tied haphazardly in a ponytail, leaving quite a sizeable amount of hair dangling in front of his face, covering his left eye completely.

Pain raised his other eyebrow, in a rare exhibition of emotion. "So that is where Deidara went."

Deidara smiled evilly, eyes just as red as when the Kyuubi's body was standing before them instead. "Well, he _did_ attack me. And I ruined my old body in the fight. So what else was I supposed to do?"

Hidan jumped to his feet. "Wait, what? Deidara? I thought he went rogue or something?"

Kakuzu grumbled to himself, obviously annoyed by his partner's voice.

Sasori's husky voice, this time, was what echoed throughout the cavern. "Is he still in there somewhere?" It almost looked like he was _smiling_ under his facemask.

Kyuubi laughed maniacally with Deidara's body, before he looked back at the puppeteer. "Why, do you want to have a little chat with him?" His laughing face quickly grimaced again. "Oh my, he's quite angry right now. Fine." He snapped his fingers again.

Deidara's body shook vehemently for a moment, before the crimson red faded from his eyes, and they were returned back to their original slate grey appearance.

"GET THIS ASSHOLE OUT OF ME! HNN!"

Deidara keeled over slightly, panting as he did so. "Please… he's killing me… everything hurts… I can't fight it."

"Well, well, well – look whose art is superior now?" snickered Sasori from across the room. "Couldn't even take down a tailed beast by yourself." He sighed slightly, regaining his composure. "What's it been now, two years?"

"It wasn't that simple, hnn! The Nine-Tails is different… I don't know how… but he just is, okay? Don't take him lightly! He's gonna betr-"

Suddenly, his body shot straight again, eyes once again redder than blood. "I think that's enough of that."

Pain lowered his eyes slowly, peering at Kyuubi accusingly.

"Regardless of bodies, I have other things to deal with right now. Call me when you get the next Tailed Beast. I think you lot can handle the rest, I pulled in four single-handedly."

Before Sasori or the rest could retort, his figure began to fade away. "I'll see you all around."

Pain closed his eyes, before addressing the rest of the Akatsuki. "Very well. Sasori and Konan will capture the Three-Tails. Hidan and Kakuzu – silence, you fools – will go after the Four-Tails and Five-Tails. I will personally track down the Six-Tails. The Seven-Tails will be your responsibility, Kisame."

Despite the slight interruption due to Kakuzu being paired up with Hidan again, the rest of the Akatsuki grinned at the chance to get to work. After a slight nod from Pain, the entire assembly of S-ranked missing-nin vanished…

…except for Pain himself, and Itachi Uchiha.

Pain blinked slowly at the sharingan wielder, before turning and looking at him straight on, metallic purple, ringed eyes meeting blood red, tomoe-speckled ones.

"What is it, Itachi?"

"I worry about the loyalties of the Kyuubi."

Pain simply grumbled in agreement, signaling Itachi to continue.

"I fear his loyalties lie elsewhere."

Pain raised an ethereal eyebrow. "Where? The Leaf?"

Itachi shook his head slowly. "No. He holds quite the grudge over them, after the death of Jiraiya. I feel he has his own ambitions that may threaten to impede our own."

Pain was silent for a moment, before nodding methodically. "I want you to trail him. Find out what he is after. And capture him if necessary, so we may seal him away when the time comes."

Itachi bowed his head, eyes closed, before shimmering out of existence.

He blinked, and looked up from the small gathering of stones that he and Kisame were perched upon, still holding a hand seal upon awakening.

His hands moved back down to his sides, and he stood up slowly, before turning to his partner.

"It would appear we each have our own duties currently."

Kisame smirked. "So it would seem. Until next time."

Itachi nodded, and with a small bow, he exploded into a cacophony of crows, leaving the Tailless Tailed Beast alone in the middle of the forest.


	10. Chapter 10: Chaos

_*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*_

* * *

 ** _Subjugation_ Arc:**

 **Chapter 10 - Chaos**

* * *

Chaos.

That was the only proper way to describe the scene that Tsunade and company arrived upon when they walked into her office not minutes after Shizune's announcement.

Groups of jounin stood in the corner, analyzing sheets of paper, frantically arguing with one another, presumably over potential defense strategies. The looks in their faces proved that they were getting nowhere, and were beginning to panic.

Several labcoat-adorned civilians were all quietly discussing something atop a stack of haphazardly organized papers, all clamped together on a clipboard that one of them was holding. They were quiet, quieter than the rest for the most part, but the rising tension in the room quickly led to rising voices, and pretty soon, everyone in the room was shouting desperately to get their voices heard.

Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane were standing in front, close to Tsunade's now over-encumbered desk, talking to Shikaku and Inoichi rather vehemently. Hand gestures and shouts of disapproval could be heard occasionally over the racket as Homura and Koharu obviously did not like what they were hearing from the Nara clan head, who was passionately defending himself against the two Hokage advisors.

The rest of the room was filled with councilmembers – mostly from the civilian side. They bickered amongst themselves, switching arguing partners now and then as another would interrupt and distract their trains of thought.

The only ones in the room not talking were Neji Hyuuga and Rock Lee, who were joined by Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yuuhi. They were simply leaning against the back glass wall – Neji was looking out upon the Leaf village, while Lee clenched his fist in front of him and watched as well. Asuma and Kurenai, looking thoroughly exhausted, simply stood next to them calmly.

Tsunade burst through the door violently, cracking it off if its hinges slightly, quickly followed by a cringing Shizune and the rest of the Memory Squad.

As soon as the gathered congregation noticed the door fly open, everyone shut up immediately. All eyes were on the furious Tsunade as she entered the room; her high-heeled shoes _click-clack_ ing behind her, hair swinging wildly from side to side.

She quickly jettisoned herself around her desk, navigating through the hoards of people in her way, before she quickly sat down, closing her eyes and waiting for the ball to drop and everything to explode.

Everyone watched in complete silence as she made her way to her desk. They watched her close her eyes, take a deep breath, and lean forward onto her hands, leaning on the desk in front of her.

The instant she opened her eyes, the entire room exploded in a cacophony of angry, terrified, questioning voices – this time, all directed at Tsunade. No one could hear themselves talk, so they all began to shout louder and louder, before pretty soon even people down on the ground in front of the Hokage Tower started to turn their heads to look up at her office windows. Neji could have even sworn that he saw all five of the Hokage Faces on the mountainside in front of him cringe. After a quick Byakugan pulse, he still wasn't sure.

A heartbeat, as the entire room started to vibrate due to the noise.

"…"

Another heartbeat. People started to clamor in front of Tsunade's desk, each trying desperately to get close enough to her to make sure they were heard over the rest.

"…nnnn…"

Yet another heartbeat. The glass began to vibrate.

"….NNNNNN…."

The low growl from Tsunade's throat began to pick up volume. Still, the crowd of advisors and concerned councilmembers pressed forward.

"….NNNNYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Tsunade's eyes shot open, and she swung her fists forward, completely shattering her desk into thousands of tiny shards. The piles of papers that had accumulated the past three days were launched into the air, gently gliding down onto the heads of the flabbergasted audience around her. The sheer force of the punch ricocheted across the room, shattering most of the windows in her office and pushing back most of the closest people to her in one fell swoop. They fell to the floor with a collective _thud_ , while Tsunade just stared them each down, leaking an astronomical amount of killing intent and chakra.

People on the ground were starting to gather below the tower, pointing up at the now broken windows and sheets of paper that started to fall from them, gliding down like leaves on a fall day. Glass littered the ground around the front entrance, and passerby had to duck and cover in order to avoid the falling debris.

This had the effect that Tsunade wanted, and the room was quiet once again. After another few moments of peace, she closed her eyes, opening them slowly, and turning to look up at the people in the room with a sweet smile that sent shivers down the spine of the collective mass of concerned citizenry.

"Now then; one at a time, please."

No one dared to speak up. Tsunade sighed, and looked at the doctors wearing labcoats standing off to the side, still in a panicked haze. "What's his condition?" She asked quietly.

One of them coughed into his hand, and took a step forward gingerly, obviously expecting to lose his head if he came any closer. "Uhh… well, ma'am, he's stable. But he's lost a lot of blood. And he's suffering from chakra exhaustion from running all the way here, full speed, nonstop from the Hidden Cloud village."

Tsunade nodded slowly, turning her attention away from the medical ninjas, and looking up at Shikaku. "Report."

Shikaku approached, unfazed by Tsunade's brazen display of power. He'd seen enough of it in the past as it was. Plus, he couldn't be bothered to be scared. That would be troublesome.

He nodded at her respectfully, before relaying everything he knew.

"At approximately 10:30 this morning, a Hidden Cloud shinobi brandishing a wide array of cuts, gashes, and bruises stumbled up to the front gates. The shinobi guarding the gates at the time summoned ANBU, who quickly arrived to subdue the unknown intruder after they neglected to respond to an identification request. He didn't resist – as a matter of fact, he collapsed in a pool of his own blood shortly after the ANBU arrived. Before he passed out, he said he needed to speak with you personally, Lady Hokage. After stabilizing him in the Leaf Hospital, we were able to determine the nature of his… visit here. Apparently, there has been an attack on the Hidden Cloud village."

After this last statement, several people began to murmur in the back – much quieter this time, and with less vigor. Tsunade could hear occasional grumblings of "serves the Hidden Cloud right", and "why should we help them".

She sighed, and gestured for Shikaku to continue. "Do we know who the perpetrator was? Was it the Stone? I know they have been on shaky ground with the Cloud for the past few months. But we would have heard about a declaration of war like that…" she grumbled to herself, staring off into the distance, deep in thought.

Suddenly, the back door slammed open once again – and in walked the very same shinobi that was on death's door earlier that morning. He was very pale, and was walking with the assistance of a crutch, but at least he wasn't bleeding everywhere. He had a small sucker in his mouth, and was panting heavily as he took each labored step.

Hot on his heels were two ANBU guards, a very flustered nurse, and the Hokage's downstairs secretary, who managed visitors to Tsunade.

"I'm very sorry, Lady Hokage. But he demanded to speak with you immediately."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow as the Cloud ninja struggled his way through the crowd. As he approached (what remained of) the Hokage's desk, the jounin in attendance all tensed and several stepped in his way.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" A tall, black-shirted shinobi wearing dark tinted sunglasses and a bandana said.

Tsunade shook her head. "Let him through, Ebisu. We were talking about him anyway, it would be better to hear it straight from the horse's mouth."

Shikaku shrugged, and moved back to his previous position by the wall, while the two elderly council advisors narrowed their eyebrows and stared the boy down.

He couldn't have been more than 16 or 17. He was of average height, and had vibrant white hair that was singed on one side. At least the blood was gone now. He was wearing his tattered grey jacket over a hospital gown and a pair of white sweatpants. His Hidden Cloud forehead protector was tied around his waist absentmindedly, keeping the hospital gown closed. He gingerly held his side with his free hand, while the other operated the small crutch he had pilfered from the hospital before leaving for the Hokage's office.

Tsunade stared him down for a few heartbeats – all anyone did was watch the two of them watch each other curiously before the Hokage broke the stare and waved her hand at him. "What's your name?"

The boy shifted the sucker in his mouth, before standing at attention – as best he could in his current situation – and speaking. "My name is Omoi, ma'am. Chuunin of the Village Hidden in the Clouds."

Tsunade nodded once at him, signaling him to be at ease. She then pointed at the chair that was positioned in front of her fragmented desk. "Please, Omoi. Sit. I may be Hokage, but I am also still a medical ninja at heart. I can't bear to watch you suffer like that just for honorifics."

Omoi bowed, trying unsuccessfully to hide his wince of pain as he did so. After righting himself, he sunk into one of the seats with a satisfied smile.

Tsunade looked at the collection of untrusting eyes burrowing holes in the back of the young ninja's head. She sighed. Why are they always like this? He was obviously here for help. If it was true, and the entire Hidden Cloud village no longer existed, then there was a very distinct possibility that he was the last one.

She shook her head, closing her eyes. All of his friends, all of his family. Who could have done such a thing?

Tsunade didn't want to think too heavily on that, because she had a sneaking suspicion that she wouldn't like the answer.

"Omoi."

The boy sat up straight again. "Yes, Lady Hokage?"

"What happened out there?"

The boy blinked, before letting out a long, pained sigh, obviously still in pain from the injury in his side.

"I… I was on my way back to the Raikage after a simple C-ranked solo mission. I was a few miles out… but… I could feel this corrosive chakra coming right from the center of the village. It felt bad – very bad. Like pure hatred." He slammed his eyes shut.

"Then… then there was a bright flash of light. And a shockwave. It was blinding – so powerful. I've never seen something so massive… so terrifying. I could feel the energy from where I was, almost near the ocean. I… I had forgotten a mission scroll at the small village I was working in that morning. If I hadn't had to go back for it…" his expression was very pained.

Tsunade sat absolutely still for a moment. ' _Why does this always happen? When will we ever learn?'_ Her eyes narrowed when she remembered Jiraiya's bold promise to her, back when he took in three orphaned children of the Hidden Rain.

 _"Tsunade… that boy… he's something special. Those eyes are only a part of it. He's going to do great things in his life, and I want to be there to see him through it. Or, at the very least, set him on the right path. If anyone can solve the tumultuous cycle of pain and suffering in our world, it's him. I believe in him."_

Then, she thought back to a few days before he left for the last time. It was their final meeting, under a shaded oak tree in the middle of one of the Leaf village's outer forests.

 _"Naruto… he has that spark. I may have been wrong in the past, but I believe in the great Elder Sage. He has to be right. Our world is doomed to repeat itself until someone like Nagato, like Minato, like Naruto – until a hero comes and saves us from ourselves. I believe in him."_

A single tear drifted its way down her cheek, unbeknownst to the crowd of Leaf citizens gathered around her – at a safe distance, of course.

She surreptitiously wiped the stray tear from her face, before sniffling to herself and looking back up at the boy.

He was still lost in his own thoughts, head down, and eyes braced for whatever came next. But to Tsunade's surprise, he continued speaking, although mostly to himself.

"That chakra… that was tailed beast chakra. I'm sure of i-"

"We need to figure out who did this! They can come here next!" shouted a council member from the rear of the room. A wave of supporting panic swept across the Hokage's office, and the tide of voices began to come in once again.

"We're next!" called another civilian.

The chatter quickly developed into a roar that was dull at first, but quickly heightened. Tsunade could only shake her head at her fellow Leaf citizenry.

"Relax!" she bellowed, but this time with a calm aura. "I, as the Fifth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, promise to never let that happen. But to do that," she glared around the room, "I need silence. We need to hear his story. Unless, of course, you are done now, Omoi."

Omoi shook his head. "No. I… I saw… him."

Another roar from the crowd.

"ENOUGH!"

Another silencing from Tsunade.

Omoi didn't ask to continue this time. "He… whatever he was… an it, maybe even…" his mind started to wander, until he locked eyes with the glare of the Hokage, and immediately re-railed his derailed mind.

"…He was dragging… our jinchuuriki. Lord Killer Bee, and Yugito Nii. The Eight and Two-Tails of the Cloud."

Tsunade rested her forehead on her folded fingers once more. "Let me guess… tattered robes, ragged looking body, spotty orange hair."

Omoi blinked. "How did you…?"

"Lucky guess." She smirked humorlessly. "In that case – Shizune. Kakashi. Tenzou. Shikaku and Shikamaru. Sakura. Neji. Lee. Kurenai. Asuma. Omoi." She looked down at the boy with a small smile. "You all stay here. The rest of you… get the hell out of my office."

Her last sentence was spoken softly, but its meaning was immediately misconstrued.

"What do you mean?! That thing is still out there! We have to-"

"GET. THE HELL. OUT OF MY OFFICE."

The young jounin gulped, before making his way towards the door, like the rest of the cavalcade.

Homura and Koharu, however, seemed to take that to mean that they too could stay. And stay they did. Tsunade didn't even bother to look up.

"What, are you two old fossils hard at hearing now? I said leave."

"Lady Hokage. You know good and well that we can't just do that. You have the council to answer to."

The slug Sannin growled. "And what good is this title if I can't make the damn decisions around here? This isn't a democratically elected society. This is a military dictatorship. We exist as a village because of that. Now get the hell out of my office, before I instruct my ANBU to give you a helping hand."

The two old advisors simply narrowed their eyes, before turning on their heels. "You'll regret the day you don't take input from your citizens. The council will ha-"

"The council can go right to hell, along with you two. And besides," she gestured to the assembled group of people before her, "I am already taking input from my citizens. It's what I've been doing for the last three days. Hell, for the last three years. So climb back up on your high horse and don't let the door hit your pompous asses too hard on the way out."

The grumbling old shinobi did as they were told, but that did nothing to help satiate the Hokage's seething expression. Finally, once the door settled unevenly on the shattered door-frame, she ran her fingers through her hair, and let out a long, pent up sigh.

"Politics. I am sick and tired of this game they play, every time." She finally looked up at the gathered members, before frowning.

"Tenzou, I told you to stay. That should have implied that I wanted you to come forward as well."

A masked figure walked out of the darkness in the corner of the room, and bowed deeply to the Hokage. "My apologies, Lady Hokage."

She waved him off casually. "And take your mask off. You won't need it from here on out."

After a contemplative moment, the ANBU nodded in acknowledgement, and plucked the mask from his face.

A pair of harsh brown eyes, framed by a grey face-style forehead protector, greeted her as the porcelain came down with his hand. He bowed again slightly, and expressionlessly.

The rest of the squad, save Kakashi, watched in mild fascination. It wasn't every day that an ANBU Black Ops member had his identity revealed.

' _This must be serious,'_ thought Neji, as he lowered his eyes.

Tsunade noticed this, and immediately asked him a question. "That reminds me. Did you find anything?"

Asuma was the one to respond. "I'm sorry, Lady Tsunade. Our search in the northern Land of Fire led nowhere. Although… we did experience quite a sizable tremor a few days ago. We didn't think anything of it at the time, but…"

"Yes, that happened here as well. Given our recent intelligence, the timing corresponds almost perfectly with Omoi's description of the fall of the Hidden Cloud," Kakashi analyzed, looking from Asuma to the Hokage. "That must be one powerful jutsu."

"Yes, well – when you're a tailed beast, the impossible become mundane." Tsunade leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms.

"I beg your pardon, Lady Hokage?" came Kurenai's voice. "Tailed Beast?"

She merrily nodded. "Yes. The perpetrator was Naruto. It had to be." She sighed again, shaking her head solemnly. "What went wrong? He still seemed… _human_ in the memories we witnessed. Why is he doing all of this? Joining the people he was trying to fight off for all those years?"

"A lot can happen in two years," mused Shikamaru. His father raised an eyebrow at his cryptic answer, but he didn't say anything.

"Tsunade took a deep breath, then looked back around the room. Her eyes settled on Kakashi, Shikamaru, and Sakura. "Alright. First of all, although it shouldn't have to be said, anything regarding Naruto's heritage, or anything else we experienced in those memories are to be considered SS-ranked secrets. Don't tell a soul." Then she looked at the rest of the conglomerated shinobi. "The same goes for the rest of you, regarding what I'm about to tell you all."

After a moment of silence, Tsunade took that as a signal of affirmation and continued. "Naruto will be returning to the Leaf, if he hasn't already. He… has a plan for something. We know of at least part of it. I can't say whether or not it's changed in the last two years, but… it's a start, at least.

"According to the resources we were able to gather from our last encounter with Naruto Uzumaki, he is planning on resurrecting his father, in an effort to undo the seal that Jiraiya left on him. From what the Fourth Hokage told Naruto in his memories-"

"I beg your pardon?" Shikaku stated plainly. "Did you just say the Fourth Hokage?"

Tsunade only nodded slowly. "Yes, I did. He sealed part of himself in Naruto simultaneously with the Kyuubi on the day of his birth, in an effort to reseal the beast should the seal come undone. He also set it up in such a way that in the event Naruto died, he could return to deal with the Nine-Tails from within the seal somehow."

"So… Naruto really is dead then? He's been possessed by the Nine-Tails?" Neji asked incredulously.

Tsunaded shook her head this time. "No. It's a long story. But the short end of it is that Naruto's consciousness was ripped from his body and transferred to the Nine-Tails. Effectively, he _is_ the Kyuubi."

Neji blinked. " _What?"_

Lee leapt in front of his teammate, extending a fist valiantly into the air. "But I know Naruto! He would not allow such a thing to happen under his watch!"

Tsunade shook her head again, this time mostly to herself. "I really should have just started from the beginning, shouldn't I?" She sighed and looked back up at the green-clad boy standing before her. "No, you're right. Naruto would never have allowed something like that to happen. But… he didn't know. Not until it was too late, that is. That idiot Jiraiya screwed everything up."

She pounded one of the jarred edges of what remained of her desk, causing it to splinter off and topple to the ground.

"If I may, Lady Tsunade…" came Kakashi's voice, with a nervous eye-smile, before she could cause any further damage. He turned to the rest of the assembled ninja and immediately stonefaced. "Our mission will be to travel to the Uzumaki Mask Shrine on the outskirts of the Leaf, set up an ambush, and capture Naruto Uzumaki at all costs."

"The Mask Shrine? What does Naruto want with a decrepit old building like that?" Asked Shizune. She was pale in the face due to the amount of destruction she was anticipating having to clean up after, but was still paying attention to the conversation enough to pick that up.

"Minato-sensei, before he died, researched extensively into the key jutsus of the Uzumaki clan and the Village Hidden in the Whirlpools. One such jutsu was the Reaper Death Seal, which was the method by which he sealed the Nine-Tails into Naruto on the day of his birth. He was obsessed with it for quite some time – after most missions, when my team and I would celebrate or rest, Minato-sensei would be up for days at a time, trying to tweak the seal to create some sort of loophole so that it could be used without the caster's life being sacrificed in the process."

Shizune frowned at that, but Kakashi continued.

"But in the end, he never succeeded. He did, however, apparently find the loophole that he wanted, but not in the seal configuration he had. A few months into Kushina's pregnancy, he traveled to the ruins of the Hidden Whirlpool village himself and found an extensive library hidden behind an immensely complicated sealing barrier. I remember the look on his face when he came back with nothing short of an entire bookstore on his back. It was like Chouji in a barbeque restaurant."

Asuma angered slightly at the blatant joke on his student's behalf, but he quickly sweatdropped – acknowledging that Kakashi was right. No one could be happier than Chouji at a barbeque buffet. His wallet could attest to that.

The copy-nin smirked at the Sarutobi's reaction. "Well, he spent quite a long time going through the library; cataloguing everything, learning new techniques, the whole shebang. Apparently, though, he found a book describing the history of the Reaper Death Seal and its usage in the Hidden Whirlpool village in detail – but kept it secret. In it, according to what we heard him tell Naruto, he learned that after one's death, if you summon the Shinigami and use one of the masks currently hanging in the Mask Shrine, you can force it to slice open its stomach, releasing the captive souls to the outside world again. The only catch was that any damage inflicted upon the Shinigami would also be inflicted upon the summoner, meaning that it, too, was a forbidden technique."

Kakashi shrugged. "I guess that since Naruto isn't exactly living anymore, he can perform the trick without too much harm to himself." He scratched the back of his head in thought. "Now, what happens to the released souls once they are freed remains to be seen. But with our current goals in mind, we probably won't get to see it. Our primary objective is to capture Naruto, and bring him in for questioning regarding the destruction of the Hidden Cloud."

Tsunade nodded, seemingly calm again. "Agreed. There is without a doubt that the Hidden Stone will press us to take action against our missing-nin once they find out he was the one that did it."

Omoi perked up, finally finding use for his presence. "Does that mean that you know… know who did it? For sure?" He winced, but waved Shizune off as she rushed to his chair to help.

Tsunade turned, looking at the Hidden Cloud ninja with an air of suspicion about her that wasn't present when he first arrived. "That begs the question… " she began, ignoring Omoi's query. "Why did you come here? You could have gone to the Hidden Stone instead. The Leaf and Cloud aren't exactly on very good terms right now."

Omoi nodded. "Yeah, and the relationship between the Cloud and the Stone _was_ even worse. But it was mostly because you were closer. No one else would concern themselves with helping out the Cloud, but I figured that the Leaf was my best bet. Your people are world renown for being kindhearted."

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Yeah, just wait till you have to get up close and personal with those three old war hawks," she muttered to herself, before snapping back to reality. "Regardless, we have work to do, people. Kakashi, where is Gai? He is supposed to be coordinating the strike team with you."

Kakashi blinked, wide-eyed. "You mean he hasn't reported back from his reconnaissance mission yet? He was supposed to be back yesterday."

"I don't know. I wanted to check with you first before I sent a rescue squad." She pulled open a wobbly drawer from what was left of her desk, grabbed an empty sheet of paper, a pen, and a stamp with ink. She scribbled a few words on it, signed her name, then quickly slammed the stamp down on the paper, notarizing it.

The paper, now emblazoned with the Hokage's signature and seal, was handed to Asuma. "Asuma. This is an A-ranked recovery mission. You are to take Izuma and Kotetsu, as well as Shikamaru, and find Might Gai. Bring him – and yourselves – back safe and sound. Leave as soon as you are able to."

Asuma bowed to the slug princess, before walking out of the room through the askew door, slowly followed by the grumbling Shikamaru.

As soon as the door wobbled shut, Tsunade ran her hands through her hair again. "Great. Another wrench in the works. This day keeps getting better and better."

* * *

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

Gai blinked, and stopped dead in his tracks.

He could hear the rusty voice coming from directly behind him, but when he shot around to see who was making the noise, there was no one there.

Just the trees and the lonesome gravel path he had been travelling on for miles. The blue sky opened up around him, cheerfully supporting him.

"Who are you? What do you want?" the green-clad jounin responded, taking a greater look around his surroundings.

"Oh, nothing much really. A nice book, maybe some sushi. And for you to stop spying on me, of course." Gai could have sworn that he heard the voice grin evilly at the dry delivery of the joke.

Narrowing his eyes, Gai took a step back, getting into his taijutsu pose. ' _I remember that voice from somewhere…'_

"Oh, a taijutsu fight, eh? That's what you're after? Well then, I suppose I can oblige to that."

The voice came from directly behind Gai this time, who spun around to defend himself from his attacker, kicking up a storm of dust around him.

After a half-assed swing from the opponent, the bushy-browed man smirked. "Ah, so you're a sneaky one! That's a most unyouthful trait in battle."

"Oh please. We're shinobi. We take whatever chances we can get. If I can kill you through less than honorable means, you'll still be dead, and I'll still be out and about, doing my thing." The voice called out from behind the dust cloud, as it began to dispel.

Gai watched in mild curiosity as a figure began to be made out in the dust – a spiky haired individual with a blade mounted to his back. From the silhouette alone, Gai could only make out what looked like three legs – but as more and more of the man was revealed, he realized that the massive blob on the right side of his body was actually the bottom of the blade, making it massive in size.

A large brown strap extended across his cloaked chest – a cloak speckled in red clouds on a black backdrop.

Akatsuki. And none other than Kisame Hoshigaki – the tailless tailed beast.

Gai gave a cheeky smile at the shark beast, still in position. "Ah, so you figured out I was following you, eh? Well that's most youthful of you. I'm impressed."

Kisame smirked back. "Well, you never were the greatest at anything other than taijutsu, Might Gai."

Gai frowned at the missing-nin before him. "What do you mean? Have we met before?"

It took everything Kisame had not to sweatdrop and ruin his grand entrance. "You mean you don't remember our fight in the Leaf village three years ago? A pity. I was certain you would have remembered almost getting yourself killed. I certainly would have."

Gai only shook his head. "Of course not. But I really must be returning to the Leaf now, I'm long overdue. As much fun as it is watching you meander around the Hidden Waterfall Village."

Kisame smiled mischievously. "Oh, but you know I cannot allow that to happen."

"I was kinda hoping you'd say that," chuckled Gai, as he launched himself forward and into the air.

* * *

 _Drip._

"…"

 _Drip._

"…?"

A blink. A groan.

A cough, and a wheeze.

An untenable dryness in his throat.

A… strange weight on his chest?

Another blink, and an attempt to sit up.

A shot of pain throughout his body.

A collapse back onto the hard stone floor.

Another cough.

 _Drip._

Another blink.

A few restless moments.

"Wh…where…?"

Another moment of observation of his surroundings.

A… sudden doubt…

In himself?

In others?

…In his very existence?

He willed himself to clear his mind of distraction, and get a grip on his surroundings.

A large, expansive cave.

A large, expansive, _empty_ cave.

Well, almost empty.

Two bodies.

One old – much older than the other.

The younger body was strange – it felt foreign, yet all too familiar.

A puddle to his right. He willed this body to shift and twist under the weight of the other, to get a better look.

Another blink.

A red symbol, shimmering in the dark, dimly-lit cave, reflecting off the pool of water.

 _Love._


	11. Chapter 11: Politics

_*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*_

* * *

 ** _Subjugation_ Arc:**

 **Chapter 11 - Politics**

* * *

"You can't be serious. The next Kazekage should remain in the family! Kankurou is the obvious choice!"

"Of course not! That is preposterous! The very fact that the Hidden Sand has experienced some of the worst conflict in years under the previous line of Kazekage should be reason enough to let the council elect one, much the same way the Hidden Leaf does now!"

"Why would we dare to stoop so low as to follow the lead of the Leaf?"

"Hey, yeah! The Leaf had Lord Fifth eating out of their hands!"

Temari grimaced as she heard the Council of Elders for the Hidden Sand village bicker amongst themselves. Mostly, though, she was angry that they would so quickly betray her brother after his death.

She sighed, and ran her fingers through her blond hair, trying to restrain her fury. ' _How dare they… after all he did for them… and for what little respect he was given even then…'_

"That demon deserved to die! It gave us the opportunity to reevaluate the Sand's position amongst the five great nations!"

That was it. She couldn't hold back any more.

"YOU BASTARDS! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH HE WENT THROUGH AS A CHILD? HOW MUCH HE WENT THROUGH AS A KAGE? AFTER ALL THE SHIT YOU ASSHOLES PUT HIM THROUGH, HE ALWAYS DUSTED HIMSELF OFF, AND KEPT GOING." She was standing now, in front of her position on the council, chair blown back and on the ground, fists clenched and shaking. She was _oozing_ hatred.

She took a deep breath, and narrowed her eyes at all of the old geezers that had the gall to call themselves village representatives. When she spoke again, it was through gritted teeth, and sent shivers down everyone's spines.

"Gaara was the best thing to ever come out of this village. He was a kind soul. Even after everything he went through in the early years."

A brave man towards the other end of the long, oval-shaped table piped up at this. "He was a monster! He killed for the sake of killing! He deserved to die by the hands of the Akatsuki!"

Murmurs of agreement echoed through the council chambers.

"THAT MONSTER WAS NEVER GAARA. THAT MONSTER WAS SOMETHING YOU ALL CREATED, BY STEEPING HIM IN HIS OWN SELF HATRED." Her fingernails were now so deeply ingrained in the soft flesh of her palms that blood was pouring out like a leaky pipe. "Gaara was a damn good friend. Gaara was a damn good brother. But most of all, Gaara was a damn good Kazekage. And I don't give a rat's ass if you think otherwise."

Grumblings from the men and women around her were her only response, before a tall, lanky man stood up, pressing his long, billowing white robes to his figure as he did so, in a vain attempt to appear more sophisticated than he was.

Temari almost hissed as the man began to talk.

"Regardless of our previous Kage," he said sagely, not taking his eyes off of Temari, before shifting his gaze to each of the councilmembers, "we must move forward in choosing the Sixth Kazekage." He couldn't hold the menacing grin on his lips back any longer as he continued. "I, Rei of the Yoku clan, nominate myself for position of Sixth Kazekage."

Half of the council murmured fervently in agreement, while the other half scowled.

One of the scowling men shot out of his seat to challenge Rei. His large figure was poorly masked by his grey robes, which billowed over him in a haphazard fashion. "Rei, this is preposterous! The Yoku do not have the capacity in the slightest of running a Hidden Village." He smirked proudly before speaking again. "Only the Oukui clan can do such a thing. Therefore, I, Tonma Oukui, head of the Oukui clan, nominate myself for the seat of Sixth Kazekage."

Rei glared back at the portly man before slamming his hands down on the table. "You Oukui are nothing more than a bunch of bureaucratic misfits. You live for yourselves, and not the people of this village!"

"At least I understand politics, you peasant-faced scum of this village!" spat Tonma. "The position of Kazekage is one to be respected, not laughed at."

From the explosion of arguing that erupted in the council chambers, it appeared that most council members sided with one of the heads of two of the most powerful clans in the Sand. Only one person spoke up in defense of the Sabaku clan, the clan that had held the position of Kazekage since the early days of the village.

"Silence, all of you!" bellowed Kankarou. "Do you not see that the obvious choice for Kazekage is standing right before you?" He stood up from his seat next to Temari, which he had been relatively quiet in since the beginning of the meeting. He stuck out a robed hand. "Temari is the only one that has been at Gaara's side since the very beginning. She was his personal advisor. He trusted everything to her, and her he. Not to mention that she is the only daughter of the Fourth Kazekage, one of the most feared shinobi ever to come out of this village."

At this outburst, Rei and Tonma decided to team up, on this rare occasion.

"Oh, sure, you may have the pedigree," spat Rei, "but the Sabaku clan has proven time and time again that they are incapable of leading this village through times of strife! Take a look at this most recent attack! Lord Gaara, if you could even call him that, was not only unable to stop the Akatsuki's bombardment of our poor village, but he also lost his own life, costing the Sand its only Tailed Beast! We are now at a significant power loss compared to the rest of the Shinobi villages!"

Murmurs of agreement on both Oukui and Yoku sides of the council chambers were the only things that hid the low growl coming out of Temari's mouth.

She was very, very angry.

Of course all they cared about was the One-Tails. They didn't give a damn about Gaara. Not a single care in the world for the man who had single-handedly saved nearly the entire Sand village from the assault of the strange orange-haired child.

Tonma, not about to be outdone, piped up as well. "The Sabaku clan has nestled us up much too close to the Leaf village. After what they did to our forces three years ago, that is unforgivable. The Leaf must be punished for their insolence!"

Another round of cheers of agreement, before Rei turned to look at his rival with a furious face.

"Of course the Leaf need to be destroyed! They are scum!"

"Not as much scum as what you rat-dung-of-a-clan are, you Yoku plebe!"

The council chambers quickly dissolved back into a chaotic mess of arguing and light brawls, as Temari spun around on her heels, grabbed her fan, which had been leaning on the back wall, and stormed out of the building.

When she burst out of the beige council tower and out onto the windy, dusty streets of the Hidden Sand village, Temari couldn't restrain herself anymore. Tears began to flow down her face unhindered, as she took off in a sprint towards the city walls. The sun was nearly down all the way, and a large dust storm, typical for the time of year, was beginning to roll in through the desert.

Even as the wind and sand and rock pelted her face and skin, she kept going, until she reached the nearly completely obliterated front gates of the Sand village. Remnants from the attack were still visible around every corner – chunks of rock and stone littered the ground. Blood stained sand speckled the rocky surface, and charred rubble, indicative of the aftermath of explosive tags, crisscrossed the landscape like some sort of obscene piece of abstract art.

Temari stopped for a moment, pain and sorrow deeply embedded in her eyes, before moving on to the front gate itself. She paused only for a moment, looking out onto the far horizon, where a big black cloud of dust was accumulating, and heading their way. The wind whipped at her hair and cloak as she threw herself onto the far wall, sobbing uncontrollably.

' _Gaara… you didn't deserve any of this. This world treated you with nothing but indifference at best. This world is nothing but pain for you. You… You're…'_

She gasped for a second when she realized what she was about to say, before coming to terms with it and understanding that it was the harsh truth.

 _'You're better off dead now.'_

It was for his own good. Nothing in this world was ever on his side. Maybe it was some sort of cruel test of the gods of his resolve, and now he was living life the way it was meant to be lived, in a better place.

She smiled slightly at the thought as she slid down the wall into a sitting position. He deserved it. No one, not a single person, could ever hope to understand the suffering her little brother went through at the hands of this village.

 _'Well, actually… there was one…'_

"Temari?"

The soft voice was nearly completely drowned out by the whistling sound of the wind whipping its way through the front gates of the Sand, and Temari had nearly missed it. At first she thought it was her younger brother, confirming her dream that he was in a better way now.

But when a grey-cloaked figure peeked around the edge of the wall to look at her, she just sighed.

"Kankurou. What do you want."

It came out more as a statement than a question. Kankurou gave a pained smile, before approaching his sister properly and sitting down next to her.

"You know, you really put those councilmembers in their place by storming out like that," he tried to joke sarcastically, but when he saw his sister's face turn to look at his, he knew immediately that he had made a mistake.

He had never seen her like this before. Typically, when he mocked her like that playfully, she would smirk and sock him in the shoulder, and that would be that.

But this time…

Temari's eyes were hollow and lifeless. She looked him in the eye, but it was almost like she was just staring right through him. Tears ran down her face even as she looked at him, an expression of pure pain etched across it. It wasn't physical pain – although she looked rather pale and sickly. She had been neglecting herself ever since she found out that her brother was kidnapped and died under her watch. She should have been there, she argued; Temari wouldn't listen to reason when people, especially her brother, had told her there was nothing she could have done. She was out of the country on a diplomatic mission at the time.

No. What was carved onto her face, almost indelibly, was pure emotional duress.

Kankurou immediately realized this was bad. Very bad. His sister was a very strong shinobi, and a certain amount of psychological strength came with the job and its many less-than-enduring qualifications.

But Kankurou always imagined that once that barrier fell, and especially for someone like his sister, it would be devastating.

And from the way she looked at him, he suspected that it had finally happened.

"Temari…" he said softly, before scooting closer to her and laying his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in to a hug.

She gave in completely, and buried her head deep into his side, crying hysterically.

They sat like that for what seemed like a lifetime – Temari letting out all of her frustrations, her anger, her pain – and Kankurou holding her tightly and rubbing her arm soothingly, calmly whispering to her.

"It'll be okay… don't worry. It'll be okay."

The wind whipped up a cloud of sand into their faces, which Kankurou deflected with his free arm and the cloak that fell off of it in an unrestrained manner. The storm would be upon them soon.

Kankurou looked up at the less tumultuous portion of the sky to try and determine the time, but all he could see was a darkening stew of sand and cloud. He sighed internally, realizing that even if the sun hadn't gone down completely by now, which it most certainly had, the storm would block it out anyways.

He then turned his attention back to his sister, who had finally calmed down a bit, and was now just leaning herself into the underside of his arm and chest, trying to control her breathing.

A heartbeat.

Kankurou smiled a bit, and wrapped his other arm around to her and hugged her tightly. "Temari, I-"

"I… I want to go look for him."

The puppeteer blinked at her sudden strength in words. "What… what do you mean?"

"I mean… I want to go look for Gaara, Kankurou. I want to go find and bring back his… body."

She grimaced as she said the last word. The wound was still too fresh, too deep, but she had to come to terms with it now, or she never would.

"But Temari…" He had to choose his next words carefully, or risk breaking his sister's heart for good.

"I know the trail went cold. I know the Leaf ninja couldn't find him. But… I still think we should." She turned and looked up at him, letting out a wobbly sigh. "We have to. For him."

Kankurou just looked at her for a moment, before sighing as well. He closed his eyes, and nodded slowly. "Yeah. You're right. I was actually about to suggest we do it too."

A genuine smile graced Temari's face as she looked back out to the stormy horizon.

There were another few moments where brother and sister just sat together, each lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Kankurou broke the silence, even though he didn't want to.

"Temari… you know that if we leave, the council is going to move on without us. We could lose everything here in the Sa-"

"Fuck the council!" Temari roared, turning to look at her brother with an enraged look on her face. "Why the hell do you care what that group of shriveled-up, fossilized pieces of shit think? I sure as hell don't care. After what my little brother – _our_ little brother – went through, nothing they say or do could change that." She looked him right in the eye, a familiar fire burning behind her pupils. "And I'm pissed that you even brought it up."

To her surprise, Kankurou just chuckled, and began to stand up. "No, I don't give a damn either. They can burn this place to the ground for all I care. Just felt the need to mention it." He then gave her an uneasy grin, and rubbed the back of his neck through his hood. "Plus… I wanted to make sure you were sure."

Temari roared, and slammed her fist into the side of her brother's arm, causing him to grunt and jump back.

"Ow! Hey, that hurt!" he shouted with a disgruntled huff.

Temari scoffed at him, but couldn't help but let a small smile slip from her face before she could turn away from him completely.

He jumped forward a bit with a grin, before slamming his arm around her shoulders, making her let out a slight 'OOF' in indignation.

"Well, come on then! Let's go get our little bro."

* * *

"SEVERE LEAF HURRICANE!"

A cloud of dust and debris billowed up into the sky in the woods outside of the Hidden Waterfall Village, blowing shockwaves through the trees and sending hundreds of nearby birds into flight.

Two blurred figures shot out of the still-expanding smoke cloud – one landing on the treetops gently, the other a slightly less gently.

Kisame took a few deep breaths to steady himself, before smirking at the green figure a few trees down from him. "As formidable as always, Might Gai."

Gai raised an eyebrow calmly, as he readied himself once again, falling back into another taijutsu pose.

"However," grinned Kisame, "This time, I think we'll do things my way."

Narrowing his eyes, Gai watched in morbid curiosity as the shark-man wove his way through a half dozen hand seals in a blur of motion. They had been fighting for only a few minutes already, and Gai could tell that his Akatsuki friend was only getting warmed up.

"Water Style: Exploding Water Shock Wave!"

The ground began to shake as Kisame crossed his arms nonchalantly, cocking an eyebrow at the taijutsu master. After a few moments, plumes of water billowed out of all the trees around them, as well as through the earth below, sending chunks flying off in different directions.

The mass of water started to conglomerate around Kisame, who began to rise up off the treetops as the sheer amount of the water began to increase exponentially.

Gai gulped. What stood in front of him now was a massive wall of water, adorned with the swordsman on top. But what really alarmed him was the fact that it was moving – although _very_ slowly.

That began to change, however, as the wave started to pick up speed. Pretty soon, it was rocketing towards him like a steam train.

Gai leapt into the air, and began to swirl in an attempt to strike Kisame from his position on top of the rapidly approaching water wall. But Kisame dodged out of the way of his kick just in time, sending Gai flying back and onto the water behind him.

The green-clad jounin began to turn to counterattack from atop the water, but quickly realized he was in serious trouble. The water he was standing on began to climb up his legs, enveloping him in a thin sheet of liquid, forcing him to stand still.

Kisame turned with a maniacal grin, as he finished another hand seal combination. "Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu."

Gai's eyes widened as he saw more and more liquid work its way over his body, before it bubbled outward into a perfect sphere of floating water.

The wave began to die down around the two shinobi, until water simply covered the first foot or so of the forest floor.

Gai grimaced. "Well then, I guess I have no other choice."

The shark-nin's beady eyes widened in anticipation. "Ooh, now I'm curious."

The jounin simply closed his eyes and lowered his head.

A heartbeat.

"Gates One through Three – Open!"

A tremendous surge of power surged through Gai, enveloping him in a thin sheet of chakra, giving his body a glowing appearance. His skin was now a vibrant red color, shimmering through the reflective haze of the water like blood.

Kisame's grip on the jutsu wavered slightly, before he was able to stabilize it again by pumping more of his own chakra into it.

"Tch Tch Tch. Too bad, Gai, you _almost_ had m-"

"Fourth Gate of Pain – Open!"

The water surrounding Gai evaporated immediately under the tremendous friction power of the raw chakra. Kisame, disgruntled that his gloating opportunity was cut short, began pumping even more chakra into the jutsu, but it was to no avail – the water was completely gone…

…as was Gai.

' _Wh..what? Where'd he g-'_

BAM!

Kisame took a direct blow to the face, as the taijutsu master's knee embedded itself into his cheekbone. Blood began seeping out of the shark-nin's mouth even before Gai broke contact, splattering all over his green jumpsuit and dying it a dark brown color in spotty places.

The time for warm-up was over. Kisame frowned and spit out a few teeth, before reaching behind him and brandishing Samehada, his prized sword and companion.

Kisame was about to make a snide retort about how sharks regrow teeth, but he was forced to focus instead on the barrage of attacks that were flying his way at a nearly incomprehensible speed.

He thanked his lucky stars he was partnered with an expert wielder of the Sharingan, who had given him tips on how to fight with someone that was faster than he was.

And he was the first to admit that he wasn't really a speed kind of fighter.

More of a brute force kind of guy, he surmised, before one of Gai's kicks broke through his defenses and tore into his lower abdomen, leaving a sizeable bruise and forcing him to stagger back a few feet.

Kisame smirked at his opponent, who had jumped back to his previous position on top of a tree, and stepping into yet another taijutsu pose. His body was still shimmering, and his eyes took on a pupilless white glow that Kisame found strangely hypnotic.

"I've said it before… and I'll say it again… I'm not a taijutsu fighter. Oh no, not at all. You see, my strength lies in m-"

Gai vanished in a flash of pure speed, once again spiraling Kisame in punch after punch; kick after kick.

Kisame, to his credit this time, was prepared for this, and wielded the massive weight of Samehada splendidly, managing to stave Gai off for several continuous minutes.

Punch.

Kick.

Swipe.

Kick.

Kick.

Punch.

Slice.

Punch.

Parry.

Both shinobi jumped back panting.

"Well then, Kisame Hoshigaki, you certainly have earned your S rank." He said between breaths, before immediately jumping back into position. "This has been a most youthful battle. However, I must be going now. I appreciate the opportunity to spar with you, and trust we will meet again in the future."

"Not so fast, my green friend," grinned Kisame, before jumping right into another series of hand seals.

Another tremendous rumbling began to echo off the ground and trees, as the water leftover from Kisame's previous jutsu began to rise off the forest floor once again, forming another massive wave.

But this time, Gai could see small black orbs forming within the churning water. He narrowed his eyes and immediately tensed, preparing to have to strike at any moment.

"Water Style: Thousand Hungry Sharks!" Kisame bellowed, and almost immediately, the entire wall of water morphed and transformed into a giant moving mass of flesh and sharp teeth.

Gai began to panic. There was only one move he had that could keep up with this load, especially after his previous engagement with Kisame.

He began to focus internally, as he visualized his Eight Inner Gates, and focused on the first six.

"Gates Five! Six! Open!"

A giant beam of chakra shot out of Gai, rocketing off into the upper atmosphere. A cloud of vibrant chakra began to shroud the entire area in a haze of pure power, and a vortex of water began to swirl around him on its own accord.

The first wave of sharks was vaporized immediately upon Gai's release of the Sixth Gate, but the rest kept coming in a torrent of hunger and bloodlust.

Gai immediately coiled back in a pose unfamiliar to Kisame, but he had little time to think before he erupted into a giant ball of orange flame. The flames began to peel off of him and aim for each individual shark, exploding off of the jounin like bullets.

First, ten sharks were burnt to a crisp.

Then fifty.

Then two hundred.

There was another burst of chakra, as more flaming beams projected themselves at their targets, until there were none left.

Well, none that weren't summons, that is.

Kisame quickly raised Samehada in an attempt to absorb the flameballs, but quickly realized that it wasn't working. Instead, he simply used it as a shield, flashing it about in a blur to counter each attack.

He was successful at this – mostly.

One or two got through.

And they were devastating.

Kisame coughed up even more blood – it spilled down his mouth and into a small pool in his Akatsuki robes. He coughed and could feel a broken rib riding dangerously close to one of his lungs.

BAM!

Kisame was fully expecting another flame blast, but this time, he was at the receiving end of the fireballs' source.

Samehada tried its best to parry Gai's brutal roundhouse kick, but it was Kisame's wrist that gave out first, swiveling the sword down and away from the shark man.

Gai sensed the vulnerability in Kisame's defenses, and immediately descended upon him.

Punch. Slice. Punch. Kick.

PunchPunchPunchKick.

KickPunchPunchKickPunch.

Punch PunchPunchPunchPunchPunchPunchPunchPunch.

After the last barrage of attacks, Gai launched Kisame into the air, forcing Samehada out of his weakening grip, sending small red droplets of his blood shooting off in multiple directions.

Gai quickly materialized beside his ill-fated foe, and the two began to swirl in the air, picking up rotational speed.

Kisame began to panic. ' _If this is what I think it is, I'm done for. I have to-'_

"REVERSE LOTUS!"

 **Wha-BAM!**

The water on the ground was instantly vaporized in a ten foot radius around the impact crater. The water outside of that radius was sent off in a massive tsunami-like wave that uprooted trees and sent dirt and rock blasting off in every direction.

The shockwave could be felt for miles.

Gai materialized a few feet away, panting and beginning to glow from fatigue. He observed his handiwork with skepticism.

And sure enough, as the dust cloud dissipated, he watched as the crumpled and disfigured form of Kisame liquefied into water and began to pool at the bottom of the impact site.

Out of the corner of his eye, however, he saw a limping black-and-red-cloaked figure scuttling away as fast as he could.

Kisame couldn't afford a defeat of this scale. He had to reach backup – as much as it would hurt his pride.

But Gai had other plans.

"Well, well, well," he mocked, mimicking Kisame's entrance, as he materialized in front of the limping shinobi. "It looks like you should have just let me go. Although now it would seem that the two of us are _both_ going to the Leaf." He chuckled, which Kisame found rather unsettling considering the way he looked. "At least now I have someone to talk to on the long walk home."

"Are you sure about that?" came an effeminate voice from behind him.

* * *

' _Wh… who am I?'_

 _'Am I a good person?'_

 _'Am I… wait.'_

 _'I don't…'_

"AUGH!"

Gaara fell forward onto his face. He was too lost in contemplation to notice the massive root on the forest floor beneath him, and had subsequently tripped.

He groaned softly to himself, before curling into a small ball and holding his side.

' _My ribs… they're still cracked, back from when I was fighting with Naruto.'_

He blinked suddenly.

' _Naruto?'_

 _'…Naruto!'_

What the hell was Naruto doing in the Akatsuki? What the hell was Naruto doing preaching about being the Nine-Tails? What the hell was-

"Aaah…"

He hissed slightly as his panic caused more pain to shoot through his body like a lightning bolt.

' _You need to concentrate on getting back to the Hidden Sand village,'_ he thought to himself.

He waited for Shukaku's snarky reply.

And none came.

He slumped back over into the fetal position, not wanting to move.

' _Oh. That's right. I was captured and had my Tailed Beast extracted from me by the Akatsuki.'_

And that was when guilt and anger and sadness began to bubble up inside of him. _'How could I let something like that happen? I put my village in danger. My friends and family in danger. I just hope…'_

A sickening feeling washed over Gaara as he tried to get ahold of himself.

' _What if… what if I couldn't protect them? What if…'_

 _'Temari… Kankurou…'_

 _'…Naruto…'_

His eyes widened suddenly.

' _Naruto was in the Akatsuki. He was hunting his own kind – jinchuuriki. He was now a member of the very organization that he had been fighting, tooth and nail, for the past three years to defend himself from.'_

He eased himself up, a determined glint reflecting off of his pale green eyes.

' _I will save Naruto from himself. Of that I promise.'_

He sat up again, this time taking careful consideration of his surroundings. He began to walk again, and his mind began to wander as well.

He had been walking for nearly half a day. From his brief self-examination, he was able to determine that he was experiencing significant blood loss, and had several cracked ribs, one or two broken ribs, a broken arm, a dislocated shoulder, chakra exhaustion, and physical fatigue from moving all day.

But he had to keep moving. If he stopped, he would die.

Simple as that.

His vision began to fog over, and he simply pressed a finger into his side to send a shot of pain through his system.

Adrenaline began to flow.

He could see clearly again.

' _I cannot keep going like this for much longer. I cannot defend myself as it stands right now.'_

Curiously, he stuck his free hand out in front of him and tried to channel what little chakra he had built up in his system from walking into his palm.

To his surprise, several small particles of sand floated up from the earth and began to swirl around one another above his outstretched hand.

' _So my sand jutsu are unaffected due to the loss of Shukaku. This is interesting._ '

He had tried this earlier, but couldn't manifest enough chakra to do anything, let alone manipulate sand. It annoyed him to no end to be useless, and now that's all he was.

In fact, he would be nothing more than a burden to anyone that found him.

 _'But find me they must,'_ Gaara announced in his head. ' _I have a village to protect._ '

' _And a friend to save.'_

Gaara could see a large cloud of sand and rain off in the distance – an obvious indicator of his proximity to the border with the Land of Wind. He didn't know where exactly he was, but he knew where he was going.

A few flashes of lightning from the dust storm cloud in the distance suddenly made Gaara's heart skip a beat.

' _No one will be out in this weather anyway. I will have to make up the rest of the distance on foot._ '

Gaara sighed, and resigned himself to focusing on his breathing and his walking. Each step was a victory to him, and brought him that much closer to his goal.

' _I have to get back…'_

His vision began to fade again, and his body went numb. He couldn't use pain anymore to keep himself from passing out due to exhaustion and overexertion.

 _'…Kankurou…'_

Just one more step…

 _'…Temari…'_

After a few more faltering steps, Sabaku no Gaara, the Kazekage of the Hidden Sand village, collapsed in a heap at the base of a large willow tree, less than a mile away from the border of the Wind Country.


	12. Chapter 12: Love

_*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*_

* * *

 ** _Subjugation_** **Arc:**

 **Chapter 12 - Love**

* * *

"G...Gaara?!"

"GAARA!"

The soft crunching sound of shinobi sandals on the quickly dampening forest floor was drowned out by the howling winds of the storm as it expanded across the border with the Wind. Tree branches were thrown aside, and fallen logs were vaulted with the ease and affluence that only a skilled shinobi could muster.

A few moments later, Temari and Kankurou reached their target – the disheveled figure of their younger brother, laying in a heap on the ground, in the middle of the woods.

They weren't expecting to run into him here at all – in fact, the last known contact point the Leaf shinobi had with the Akatsuki missing-nin was still miles away: their goal for the day.

But Temari had sensed something this way – and this way they had come.

A flash of lightning blitzed across the sky and caused the entire forest to tremble under the reverberations. The wind was getting _even stronger_ somehow, and the rain had begun to come down by the bucketload, at a nearly horizontal angle.

Temari fell to her knees immediately, blinking repeatedly to wipe the water out of her eyes, and began to look Gaara over for any signs of life. Her now completely soaked-through cloak whipped around behind her as she did so, violently threatening to fling itself off of her figure and fly off into the dark sky.

"Oh… oh Kami…"

She gasped and jumped back a bit when her hand touched his flesh and, unexpectedly, felt a warm pulse ticking away underneath it.

He was alive.

"Kan-Kankurou… Kankurou! Get over here! Give me some water! And a soldier pill!" she screamed over the tumultuous thrashing of the tree leaves above them. The storm was completely upon them at this point, and Temari had to fight her instinct to flee from it in order to stay with her still-alive sibling in the pouring rain.

"Wait, what?! Do you mean he's alive?" Kankurou shouted back (despite being right next to her), already reaching through his pack to find the requested materials. He didn't care about the answer. He already knew it, from the spark of hope in her sister's voice.

He thrust the pill and water bottle into his sister's outstretched hands, as she began to try to nurse Gaara back to health again from the forest floor.

Another crackle of lightning echoed across the darkening landscape, lightly illuminating the body of the boy that, until just now, had been pronounced dead and forgotten.

Gaara was lying in a heap on the ground beside a large willow, slightly leaned against one of its massive only-partially-subterranean roots. The soft dirt around the base of the tree made for a great recipe for mud, and the small nook that Gaara's legs were tucked into haphazardly had already begun to fill with water and churn to a dark brown goo.

His hair was its normal light-red, burgundy color – but it was muddy and clotted with blood, a disheveled mess that made Temari's stomach churn.

His red shinobi gear, a similar color to his hair, was completely caked from the inside with dried blood – what was left of it anyway. Massive claw-marks dashed and sliced across his figure, exposing the deep wounds underneath. His gourd, synonymous with Gaara since before he was a shinobi for the Sand, was nowhere to be seen, although the leather strap he used to carry it was still feebly folded over his chest and over his right shoulder. But it, too, had seen better days.

Gaara's right forearm was bent in a slightly unnatural way on the forest floor, indicating a broken bone. It was lying in a position that indicated it had been held gingerly, up until the point where he had succumbed to unconsciousness.

Temari tried to carefully roll him onto his back in the muddy soup to give him a better examination, but cringed when his right shoulder rolled around in its joint in a gruesome fashion.

'So he's dislocated his shoulder,' she thought to herself, before wincing as she braced his arm and forcefully twisted it back into place.

"…nnnnNNAAAHH!" Gaara screamed, sitting up in a daze, before crying out again and clutching at his chest with his unbroken arm.

"Gaara?! Gaara, listen to me!" Temari shouted at him, tapping him lightly on the cheek with her palm to try and get his attention. Wind and rain battered their faces as Kankurou jumped forward as well, to help support his feeble brother.

His eyes were darting everywhere, wider than saucers, and his breathing was raspy and jarred. He was borderline hyperventilating, as he twitched and churned under the terrified eye of his sister.

Finally, his crazed green orbs caught a glimpse of blond to his left – and a blob of black and red even further still. He blinked, trying to control his breathing, before letting out a bit of a crazed, uncontrollable chuckle. His face contorted into one of pain, unimaginable pain, before he collapsed forward onto his sister's shoulder, still stifling the strange laughter.

"Shinigami," he croaked quietly, just barely audible in the heat of the storm, "please stop playing games with me. Just take me already – and take me for good this time."

Temari pulled him in for a tender hug, as her saturated hair whipped around in the wind. But she didn't care.

She was reunited with her brother. Nothing short of death itself could separate her from Gaara now.

That was, of course, until she realized she was squeezing a little harder than she had meant to, and he was grumbling in pain again.

"This isn't a dream, you idiot," she laughed into his shoulder, until finally releasing him. She felt a tinge of guilt for hurting Gaara more than he already was, but he was alive. Everything else could be fixed later.

He was alive.

She sat back a bit to watch her brother's face for some sort of sign as to his wellbeing, only to see his gaze fixed exhaustingly over her shoulder at something.

She instinctively turned, and finally figured out what it was her other brother was doing that whole time when her eyes met the sight of a reasonably-sized, beige field tent pitched haphazardly between a few felled trees, in an attempt to get away from the terrors of the storm. The wind pushed against the canvas like a bull trying to break through a gate, but the material held - as did the lashings that tied it to the ground and held it in place.

She smiled faintly before carefully scooping Gaara up in her arms and carrying him, bridal style. She winced when he let out a low moan and continued to clutch at his chest.

 _'He must have a few broken ribs,'_ she thought sourly, before carefully walking through the pouring rain towards the tent, carefully avoiding the plethora of large roots and foliage that stood to trip her up if she was too hasty.

After she pulled back the tent flap, the two were immediately bathed in the soft, yellow glow of a small lantern, two small cots, a few blankets, and a very flustered and concerned Kankurou. The first thing she noticed, however, was the fact that the roar of the storm had been decimated, and now she could think properly. Temari smiled slightly before gently setting Gaara down on her own cot and giving him a more thorough check-up without the distraction of water dripping off her face and in her eyes.

She blinked. Since the adrenaline wore off from finding Gaara, Temari was now acutely aware of how drenched to the bone she was, and began to shiver. It may have only been early autumn, and they may have been remarkably close to the Land of Wind, but it was evening, and this storm had dropped the temperature considerably where they were. She was freezing.

Kankurou immediately grabbed one of the field blankets he had prepared for them, and wrapped it snuggly around Temari, before taking the other one and wrapping it slowly around his brother.

Kankurou and Temari each took a seat on the other cot and watched as their brother calmed down slightly, as the warmth from the blanket began to sooth his aching body and ease his nerves.

"Temari," he started carefully, "Do you know what this means? It means that everything they're doing right now back at the village is useless. The Kazekage is still alive. Still alive! Gaara's still alive!" The realization struck him like a ton of bricks as he worked his way through his thought processes. His eyes widened to the size of golfballs and a big goofy grin grew across his face, before he started to chuckle. "I knew it! Nothing can keep Sabaku no Gaara down for long, that's a fact!"

Temari let out a giggle as well – the first real sign of happiness she'd had since coming home from her diplomatic mission.

Well, it wasn't really _home_ – not without both of her brothers, at least.

She let out a long-held sigh, and flopped back a bit on the cot, causing it to rock slightly. Temari hadn't realized it because of the rain, but she had been crying the entire time – and was still crying, in fact. She reached up with her blanket and dabbed at her eyes, before sniffling a bit and replying to her brother. "Y…yeah. I can't want to see the look on Rei and that other fatass's faces when we come back in with Gaara around our arms."

"R-Rei? Tonma?" sputtered Gaara, as he attempted to sit up, finally a little more conscious and aware of what was going on. His eyes were no longer glazed over, but were rather sharpened and razor-focused, like always. Temari couldn't help but grow concerned by the size of the bags under his eyes, deepening the black ring that wrapped around them.

He winced as he sat up fully, resting his broken arm gently in his lap while leaning forward and over his blanketed legs. "What do those two troublesome councilmembers want this time?"

"Your title," Kankurou stated bluntly. "We left while they were still arguing over which one of them should get your hat."

Gaara's eyes widened at that, before slamming down again as he began to cough heavily, cradling his chest and contorting in pain with each wheeze.

"Here, let me get you something for that, so you can at least yell us what happened."

Temari reached into her pack, took out a small needle with a clear fluid swirling around inside of it, and walked over to her brother. She jabbed it into his neck, and held it still for a few moments until the painkiller drained from the syringe and into Gaara's body.

He moaned slightly to himself as the fluid began to numb his aching body, before taking a slightly deeper breath.

"I… I was attacked. By Naruto."

He looked at their faces, expecting shock or horror, but only got grim looks of agitation.

"We know," Kankurou said plainly. "He's apparently with the Akatsuki now. And he was spouting off some nonsense about being the Nine-Tails."

Gaara blinked. "That is indeed worrying. There is a significant chance that his seal's integrity failed and he was overcome by the Nine-Tails' emotion." He grimaced, before placing a hand where his seal used to be. "I am well aware of the damages to one's psyche that can occur when a seal is not strong enough."

"Well, judging from the way the Leaf ninja were reacting to their encounter with him, it must have been bad," Kankurou muttered, before looking down at the soggy floor of their tent, where muddy water from the rapid torrent of rain was flowing profusely below them.

"Leaf ninja?" Gaara repeated, gazing at his brother with an air of confusion.

"Yeah, I called them. After you went missing and half the village was blown to smithereens, I had no other choice, really," he shrugged, before leaning back on the cot as well, propping himself up with his hands behind him.

Gaara nodded sagely, before looking down at the feet of his siblings in thought. "That was most likely the best course of action." Then, the weight of what Kankurou said struck him hard, and he leapt up a bit.

"Hey, careful now! That morphine hasn't fixed your broken rib, just dulled its pain slightly," Temari motherly asserted, leaning back up again in preparation to subdue her sibling if necessary.

"Ribs," he hissed through his teeth, as he rode out the waves of slightly dampened pain. "Broken ribs. And a few cracked ones as well. I need to get back to the Sand." He looked back up at his sister. "Did… did the village really fall so far in my absence?"

Temari sighed heavily, before she, too, looked down at the ground. "I won't lie to you, Gaara. It's not pretty. There was significant damage to the main gate, as well as the aftermath of the brawl with… _Naruto_ … you had above the Kazekage Tower." She looked up at him in seriousness. "There were also signs of sleeper agents among our top jounin, Gaara. The jounin commander himself was one of them. We found him near the front gates – well, what was left of him, that is. From the few witnesses we had that survived that day, most said he walked up to the front gate with his body covered in pre-armed explosive tags. He…" she stopped herself then, remembering the charred remains of the valiant shinobi that had tried to stop him before he ended it all.

"I see," Gaara replied simply, a tinge of regret in his eyes.

A few heartbeats passed between the trio, before Kankurou asked the question that had been egging at the back of his mind since they got here.

"Why… why are you alive?" he asked in an almost incredulous fashion. "The removal of a tailed beast… it means certain death, Gaara. Now," he held up his hands in a sign of peace at the glare his sister began giving him, "I'm just as happy as you are that Gaara's back, but you have to admit that it's a little odd we just stumbled upon him like this in the woods."

"I flared my chakra," the former jinchuuriki replied, "right before I fell unconscious. I used up as much as I could to get as wide a range as I could, so someone would come for me." The corners of his lips lifted ever so slightly, in a way that was nearly invisible, except to those that knew Gaara personally. "I am just relieved that it worked."

"What were you thinking?!" Temari suddenly shouted at him, and a clap of thunder echoed through the wilderness, shattering their illusion of comfort and warmth from within their small tent. "Bandits or missing-nin could have sensed your presence. You could have been killed!"

Gaara nodded. "Under the circumstances, I would have taken anything – a swift death, even. It was a gamble, but as you can see, it would appear to have paid off."

He was silent for a moment, before looking back at Kankurou. "You are correct, brother, in that all jinchuuriki die shortly after the removal of their tailed beast. We come to rely on it for simply too much, to the point where it is like an addiction. I was indeed killed after my capture."

Kankurou blinked, and leaned forward again. "Wait, wha-"

"What am I doing alive then?" Gaara guessed before hollowly chuckling once and shifting on his cot. "To be honest, I'm not all that sure myself. I have a vague recollection of what happened as I woke up, but everything else is just a dream to me. Even now," he said, staring at his siblings. "I will most likely not remember this in the near future."

"You have a concussion," Temari mumbled to herself, before sitting up completely and standing in front of her brother completely now. She looked him over more carefully now, and his eyes sluggishly followed her as she did so.

She took out a small light, and flashed it quickly in front of Gaara's eyes to observe how quickly his eyes reacted. As she suspected, they moved lethargically – as if they were situated in a pool of molasses, or were frozen in time.

"We need to get you back to a hospital," she said authoritatively, slipping the small pocket light back into her coat pocket and placing her bag back over her shoulder. "We cannot waste any more time-"

"Chiyo," Gaara mumbled suddenly, his forehead crinkled in deep concentration. "Lady Chiyo. She sacrificed herself… felt guilty…" he looked up into his Temari's eyes, "…believed in me. Believed in the Sand, and in the Leaf." He blinked. "She gave her place in this world to me, after mine had expired."

"That old bag? Really? _Chiyo_?" Kankurou muttered in apprehension. "I didn't even know that was possible. She just gave her life away like that?"

"She said her time had come," Gaara said tactly, before rising to his feet as well. "It was… strange. Our consciousnesses seemed to meld for a few moments, and I was able to speak with her, one last time, before she passed." He frowned slightly, turning to the cot to grab his blanket. "I had thought it was a dream at first, but it makes sense now that it wasn't."

Temari flinched as her brother began to make for the door of the tent. "Gaara, be careful please. Are you sure you can walk?"

"I am fine."

"But Gaara-"

"Temari. Please. We must return to the Sand immediately." He turned to look at her. "Without a third party to keep them in check, Rei and Tonma's respective clans will tear the Hidden Sand apart in order to lay claim to the title of Kazekage. I must arrive in time to stop them."

"You are in no condition to do that right now!" Temari finally snapped; the tension from the previous days' events had caught up with her, and she couldn't stand to see her brother's pain and suffering under her watchful eye. "I can see you – you are good at hiding your emotions. You always have been. But you are in agony right now. The only way you are walking right now is because of the morphine. You will cause more damage to yourself if you continue on like this!" She sighed and adjusted the large fan on her back, draped across the shoulder opposite her pack. "At least let me carry you."

Gaara opened his mouth slowly to speak, before a wince worked its way across his face and betrayed his stoic appearance. He closed his eyes and admitted defeat. His sister was one not to be trifled with, especially when it came to the safety of her precious people. "As you wish."

"I'll carry him," Kankurou stated, before passing his own pack off to his sister, who took it indignantly. He then stepped in front of Gaara, leaned over, and forced his brother onto his back with a slight sigh.

Another crackle of lightning lit up the sky like a fireworks display, ricocheting off the walls of the tent in a mad frenzy.

The trio braced themselves as they stepped back out into the tumultuous environment they had escaped from moments ago, with a new fire in their eyes – one that was not so easily broken.

* * *

"Alright – Sakura. Neji. Lee. Take these border tags and place them around the shrine. We need to be able to sense his presence before he senses ours. Shikaku, Tenzou, and I will remain here and set up camp around the clearing several hundred yards to the east of the shrine in the forest. It is in a secluded enough place, downwind of the shrine. He won't be able to smell us, but I should be able to smell him." Kakashi tapped his nose nonchalantly with an eye-smile.

He then turned to the jounin commander and stonefaced. "Shikaku. We're going to be severely outmatched powerwise, do you think you can take our mission reports and formulate some sort of plan around them for when we eventually make contact?"

The Nara simply nodded, and turned towards the clearing, mumbling to himself in contemplation, a furrow on his brow.

"Wait… Kakashi-sensei… when is Naruto supposed to get here, anyway?" Sakura asked inquisitively. She only saw as much as the copy-nin saw in the memories, and wasn't able to ascertain when, exactly, herself.

"Well, we don't know, to be honest." Kakashi eye-smiled again. "But the mask has been untouched – I went in there when we arrived to check myself, remember? The seals that the Second Hokage placed on them when the building was abandoned have not been touched. That means we're the first ones since him to come here. He's coming – you can be sure of it."

"How do we know?" Neji asked with a cold expression. "It could be months, years even."

"Yes, perhaps. But I have a strong hunch that the fact he's become much more active with the Akatsuki is a sign he'll try to move his plan to fruition." He blinked slowly, and turned around, a small yellow book seemingly appearing out of nowhere in his hand. "Mainly because we hadn't heard of or about him in nearly two years. There was a reason he spoke to us, underneath the underneath." He read a few lines and snapped the book shut again. "I have a gut feeling."

Sakura simply nodded, satisfied with the answer, while Neji turned around as well, heading for the forest. Lee blinked a few times, and jumped into action as well.

The jounin went off to help Tenzou with the campsite, while the other three shinobi began the less-than-pleasant task of arranging the border seals around the perimeter of the small clearing in the woods that the Uzumaki Mask Shrine resided within. It wasn't a particularly pleasant looking building – the wood was rotting and smelly, the front entrance was collapsed in on itself, and the many tarps and fabric that used to girdle the facility had long since been torn off in the torment of the rain from many years ago.

It had not been touched in decades – not since the Second placed several very powerful seals around the perimeter to protect the less-than-innocuous building from pilferers and thieves. Their eyes were the first to see it in generations – or so they thought. As it turned out, Minato Namikaze happened to visit several times under the observation of his then-fiance, but the gathered shinobi were either unaware of it, or simply didn't find it crucial for the mission. Regardless, he had only looked, not touched – and thus the relic of the past was preserved in almost all of its rather enigmatic glory.

Glory that, for the most part, was planned to remain enigmatic. If the Naruto Retrieval Squad had anything to say about it, that was.

Sakura went over the plan again in her head as she went along, flanked on either side by Neji and Lee.

They were going to take back Naruto at all costs – kicking and screaming, if necessary.

He was supposed to make an appearance in the near future in order to release the Reaper Death Seal jutsu that was still, to this day, imprisoning his father in the Shinigami's stomach, where it was forced to do battle with the Nine-Tails for the rest of eternity.

Sakura had been quite confused when she looked further into the Fourth Hokage's sneaky trick – splitting his own soul into Yin and Yang, just like he had the Nine-Tails. It was quite genius, really – and very quick thinking.

Well, the Fourth had always been quick on his feet – literally and figuratively.

She smiled to herself as she went along, completely lost in thought.

That was, of course, until Neji's crisp voice broke the silence and shattered her inner monologue.

"I think there's something that Kakashi-sensei is not telling us." He said coolly, handing another sealing tag to Sakura and placing one himself. "And where, exactly, did this intelligence come from? I do not recall reading any of it within the Journal Lord Jiraiya left behind after his death – the one the Naruto himself gave us at our last meeting. Something here smells suspicious to me."

"Relax, Neji," returned Sakura with a smile over her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. We found something else in the journal, that's all. If the Hokage wants to tell you more about it, then she will. But for now, everything you need to know has been told to you."

She'd never say it, but she liked that for once, she was the one with the information.

Neji bristled, but sighed in capitulation. "Alright. But I don't like it. More heads working together to solve a problem is almost always better than fewer."

Sakura nodded to that with a laugh. "Yeah, that's a fact. But I think if we unloaded everything we learned into your head, you'd be out of service for a few days, at the least."

Neji's eyes narrowed at that statement as he attempted to parse it for hidden meaning, before smiling slightly to himself. "I suppose." He took a step to the right, wielding a stack of border tags. "I'll continue on this way. It might be a good idea for you two to split up as well, so we cover more ground faster."

Sakura nodded silently, before handing one of her stacks to Lee, and continuing on alone in the direction she had been heading, while Lee took off in a blitz of speed to the left.

* * *

"So, Gaara, what exactly is the problem with those two clan head nutjobs?" Kankurou finally asked, as they trudged over yet another sand dune on their slow march back to their hidden village.

The previous day's storm had come and gone – along with any doubts in Temari's resolve. Their slow journey home had given them plenty of time to think about the last week or so's events, and the information Gaara had received, although choppy and hard to match, was swirling around in their heads like a maelstrom. The blazing sun had set hours ago, finally giving them the comfort and release to think with a clear head. Why was it so bad that Rei and Tonma were at arms with one another? Why had Chiyo sacrificed herself to give Gaara a second chance?

 _Why was Naruto with the Akatsuki?_

"Hmm," Gaara grunted in thought from Kankurou's back. His voice was quiet, yet firm. "The Oukui and the Yoku clans have been bitter enemies since the foundation of the Village Hidden in the Sand." He paused, before gathering his thoughts in a more constructed manner. "You can think of them as our Uchiha and Senju clans. Always rivals, always fighting, always clamoring over one another for power."

"Yeah, I know _that_ much," Kankurou muttered, slightly shifting Gaara's weight on his back to be more comfortable. He was sweaty and it was making his back itch. "Why didn't somebody do something with them back then?"

"Somebody _did_ ," Gaara replied in his usual emotionless drawl. "Sabaku no Purachina. The wife of the First Kazekage. She was able to reign them in, for lack of a better term, and get them to see that together, they were stronger. As a village." He sighed heavily, before continuing again. "Of course, it did not hurt that she was the wielder of the fearsome Platinum Dust derivation of the Magnet Release."

"The Platinum Dust Kekkei Genkai? I thought that was nothing more than legend," Temari muttered beside her fidgeting brother.

"No, it was very real," Gaara stated, locking eyes with his sister. "And very devastating. There were more clans in the beginning other than the Yoku and the Oukui. Purachina and the First either brought together the clans of this part of the world, or destroyed them. The Yoku and the Oukui seemed to be the only ones smart enough to join the Hidden Sand village." He looked at the ground and frowned. "Or the most imbecilic."

"Hn," Kankurou grunted in amusement. "But why are they a problem now?"

Gaara nodded slowly before closing his eyes for a moment in contemplation. "For years, it has been the duty of the Kazekage to keep the village together, as is with all Kage. This, in the case of the Hidden Sand, meant that Kazekage had to deal with the… petty squabbles of the Oukui and Yoku. My role as the Fifth Kazekage was no different." He winced, as if recalling some sort of bad memory. "But I do not know of any so meddling and… _troublesome_ in our history as Rei Yoku and Tonma Oukui."

"Why? What's so annoying about them? Why now?" Temari asked, surprised. She was the Kazekage's closest advisor, but even she ducked away from the more meticulous domestic affairs. This was the first she was hearing of the issues her brother fronted on his own, and was beginning to feel slightly guilty for not helping him in the matter more when she could.

Gaara sighed slightly again, as if the memory of the duo alone made him ache. "The Yoku, as you know, are primarily working class shinobi and farmers, which provide the bulk of the food and shinobi for our village. They are a proud people, but not as… _well off_ , I suppose, as others. Still, they value family and heritage above all else." He looked to the side, as if to signify the change in focus. "The Oukui, however, are a more affluent clan. They control many of the oil fields around the Hidden Sand, and provide us with a significant source of income from other villages, as they all buy from us, primarily. They are much smaller in number than the Yoku, but still hold a significant amount of power over the council and the rest of the village. Their shinobi, while few, are quite formidable." He looked back at his sister, complete seriousness etched across his face. "The Yoku have historically farmed and lived in the more fertile land to the north of the Hidden Sand. Unfortunately, this happens to be directly on top of a rather large oil deposit – one that the Oukui have been laying claim to for quite some time. They have been demanding access to the Yoku farmlands to build pumps and refineries for years."

Gaara sighed yet again, and ran a feeble hand through his red hair – now mostly clean due to the rain from the previous day. Even in the middle of the night, it seemed to glow a faint red glow. "Naturally, this has caused the tensions their clans have had for centuries to come full circle. I was working on a peaceful arrangement between the two clans ever since they started their quarrel, but each seemed to take each other's incompetence out on the village leadership, primarily me."

Temari nodded, and Gaara continued. "Although, it would appear that this is merrily tradition. Our father, and his father before us, all the way back to the First and Purachina herself - all had to deal with their generation's Rei and Tonma. Each had their own… _specific_ issue with the way our village is ran and led, and so they have been vying for a chance to take over themselves to finally get ahead of the other for longer than I care to say."

"So… now that you're out of the picture, and we're the only Sabaku left…" Temari didn't need her brother to fill in the rest.

"Yes. Unfortunately, neither clan values the village over its own needs. And I fear that something disastrous will occur if we do not do something quickly."

"Uhhh, guys," Kankurou said, alarmed and wide-eyed, as he stared off into the horizon. A brilliant orange glow lit up the sky as they crested another massive dune, and could finally see their destination – the Hidden Sand.

Or, what was left of it, anyway.

Massive fires were billowing out of control in nearly every corner of the village, lapping hungrily at the tops of the massive city walls and dancing out in stark contrast against the harsh, dark desert around them. Several massive chunks were missing from the walls themselves, and what the Sand ninja could see from between the cracks, the walls were the least of their problems.

Buildings were collapsed in heaps, and small black flashes could be seen dashing across the shadows and clashing with one another before darting back and repeating the process.

The echo of kunai-against-kunai and the shouts of announced jutsu ricocheted off the plain desert landscape in a cacophony of violence and bloodshed.

Temari cringed as she watched the right side of the village – where their home was – erupt in a tall pillar of flame that leapt into the sky like a caged bird. A massive explosion rocked the desert as the shockwave blasted away from the village and gently pushed back the air surrounding the Sabaku siblings, causing the ground to shake violently in apprehension.

"Gaara… this is…" Temari trailed off.

He only nodded solemnly. "As I feared. A civil war has broken out."

* * *

The scene closer to the village was even more hectic and terrifying than it was from afar – civilians were running around screaming, carrying their valuables as quickly as they could, as they sought refuge from the slaughter. Those that were lucky enough to flee the city walls and into the desert would surely not make it further than a day or two in the harsh heat, but it was definitely an improvement over the fate of those who remained inside and tried to ride it out. Oukui and Yoku ninja alike, when they weren't fighting one another, were plundering and pillaging the town for all it was worth, ripping children out of family arms for target practice, before stealing the women to desecrate them. The husbands and fathers would try to fight them, but to no avail – and would most likely end up as a decapitated ornament for the victor's side once the scuffle was over.

Temari gagged at the scene, and was nearly about to empty her stomach of its contents at the sight of what she was seeing. It was despicable. People she once called comrades, _friends_ , even, were running around crazily, happily soaking in the anarchy like a kitten lapping up milk.

Suddenly, she saw one of the Yoku miscreants take heed of her, and smile with an alarming gleam that was almost animalistic. She shuddered and attempted to suppress her growing rage as she whipped her hand around to her back and brandished her massive fan. The ninja began to stroll towards her, and Temari simply narrowed her eyes and bided her time.

"Ninja Art: Wind Scythe Jutsu!"

Temari flashed to life in a blur of speed and pure chakra, a massive orb of wind energy sweeping up from between the village buildings at the chuunin eying her like candy, before he ducked out of the way and was merrily tossed aside.

Much to Temari's chagrin, he only kept coming.

This only made her angrier.

"You RAT BASTARDS! WIND STYLE: ART OF THE GUST BLADE!"

A thin blade of wind materialized before her, sharpening with each passing second, before she whipped her fan around again and sent it catapaulting towards her ignorant foe.

The blade passed through the chest of the despicable rebel ninja, and for a moment nothing seemed to happen – the man just kept walking towards her.

Then, he suddenly coughed up a giant glob of blood, and fell forwards, tripped over his own two feet –and splitting into two along the jutsu's line of contact.

Blood began to seep into the dry earth, quenching its thirst, and dying it a deep shade of maroon. She scowled at the ninja, before turning back to make sure her brothers were following her.

They had ducked into the cover of one of the alleyways until Temari had cleared a path, in order to prevent the already battered Gaara from sustaining further injury.

Kankurou and Gaara, now walking on his own, gingerly stepped around the corner and approached their sister.

Kankurou was now brandishing a triple set of medium-sized seals on his back, each marked with a different color that seemingly only he understood the meaning of. His expression was grim and unforgiving, and he simply shook his head in disappointment at the body of the Sand citizen that stood before them and passing it by without a second thought.

Gaara followed behind him, a stifled gleam of anger darting around behind his eyes that only his siblings could see. His body was now nearly completely covered in bandages under his clothes, apart from his hands and his face. He had a loose cast on his right arm, and it was wrapped in a red bandage tied around his neck in a small sling.

He had replaced his red shirt with a new one from his wardrobe and the tan cloak he was wearing over it during the attack was substituted for a slate grey armor vest that wrapped over his left shoulder. On his right, he had a gourd – not _his_ gourd, but it would do.

He looked menacing – as menacing as a Kage is supposed to look when defending their village.

Even if the defense was from its own kin.

He walked past his brother and sister and took the lead, a stoic ferocity in his movements as he went.

"Temari. Kankurou." His voice was steel. "Follow me. No doubt those two fools are destroying my tower."

His eyes narrowed as he walked, the blood-soaked sand beneath his feet crunching lightly amidst the sounds of terror and pain all around him.

"I _will_ protect this village. They will pay for their insolence."

* * *

Lightning coursed across the sky as rain continued to fall from the heavens, like it always had and always would. As far as the eye could see, nothing but flat ground and a thin layer of water rippling continuously under the heavy downpour was distinguishable.

Grey.

That was the one word that could be used to describe this place – or desolate. Either way, it was certainly an unpleasant place to live, or even travel through.

But the small, shrouded figure in the rain did not mind. After all, he had almost arrived at his destination anyways. And the constant sound of rain-upon-water was soothing, almost; it made him forget all about the hatred and the turmoil of the world.

He chuckled a bit to himself, and two voices came out instead of one, breaking the relaxing white-noise with the sound of breaking glass and an animalistic roar.

He _was_ the hatred and the turmoil of the world.

Well, for this world, anyway.

He shook his head with a disconcerting smile, continuing onwards to his final destination, walking only as fast as he felt like. Time was just another metric for him – one that was inconsequential in the long run. He liked to take things slowly; it seemed to him that the best way to exact revenge on a person was to wait out their pitiful life, and watch in glee as their existence was snuffed out like a candle in the wind.

He had seen it hundreds of times before – as the fear and the hatred and the loathing called out one last time in a sick vengeance, before being silenced by the quick blade of the Shinigami. It was efficient that way, but Kyuubi could still get a moment's pleasure out of the dying moments of the retched filth that populated this world.

He smirked to himself in realization. ' _I suppose I understand why your loyalties lie with Jashin, Hidan. It certainly is intoxicating.'_

A flash of lightning crashed across the sky again, reminding him of his outside surroundings. Sure, it was dark and bleak and dreary – and also unpopulated. All things that Kyuubi loved above all else. But his goal was nearly in sight – a goal that would finally put an end to his suffering. Everyone's suffering. The world's suffering.

It will be done.

It _must_ be done.

He couldn't help but smile in anticipation at the thought of it. Soon.

Suddenly, his eyes widened, slitted pupils dilating from above the remnants of his clouded cloak. He paused for a moment, soaking in this new feeling, before shuddering with glee.

 _It was happening._

Finally, his plans were beginning to come to fruition.

"I'm honestly surprised it took those two fools so long. After his death, I was expecting a bit more clamor over the hat," he said to no one in particular.

He grinned with a look of mock respect, lowering his head as he began to walk again. "I suppose you were actually getting through to them after all, Gaara."

He walked again silently for several more minutes, before a small beacon of life pierced the horizon.

Another massive smile erupted across his face as he recognized it as the terminus of his travels.

"Let's get this show on the road, shall we?"


	13. Chapter 13: Detonation

_*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*_

* * *

 ** _Subjugation_** **Arc:**

 **Chapter 13 - Detonation**

* * *

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Sabaku no Gaara himself. Come to take back your title, I take it?"

Silence. Only the sounds of shouting, screaming, and fighting from below the Kazekage tower could be heard, echoing through the sandstone building like the wails of a ghost.

Turquoise-green eyes narrowed to slits, as they stared down Tonma Oukui's ash greys.

After receiving no indication that the auburn-haired teen would respond to him, Tonma simply smirked, before leaning back in his chair from behind the Kazekage's desk; his green, squared hat, adorned with the kanji for 'wind' across the front, shifted slightly to allow him to take in the sight of his predecessor more clearly.

Gaara was standing a few feet into his old office, hands clenched into fists – one at his side, the other in his bandaged sling. Temari was standing to his right, her massive fan clenched between her fists before her. To Gaara's left was his older brother, the puppet master Kankurou. He was simply glaring at the man, arms folded in front of his chest, yet still ready to jump into action at a moment's notice.

"You know, they gave me their word that they would kill you," Tonma stated suddenly, as his eyes ran over Gaara's bandaged body. He was a veritable mess, Tonma thought, meaning he could take him out easily. He grinned evilly at that. "Oh well. I suppose that the Akatsuki were really never to be trusted with matters as important as these, were they? I mean, they _are_ S-ranked missing-nin." He brought his hands up and leaned forward onto the desk, folding them together in a ball as he glared at Gaara. "Well, I'm sure you know the old saying. If you want something done, you have to do it yourself."

Kankurou and Temari's eyes widened in horror and anger at this, and the Kazekage's sister scowled, her mouth beginning to open in order to shout a retort at the man.

But to everyone's surprise, even his siblings', Gaara spoke first.

"Tonma."

Gaara's gravelly voice echoed through the large office, causing the Oukui clan head's eyes to widen slightly, before he recovered and smirked again.

"Ah, so you _can_ talk. I was beginning to think that I was mumbling at a brick wall."

"What do you think you're doing, Tonma?" he said, devoid of any emotion.

"What is it you think I'm doing? I'm taking your place, after your… _unfortunate demise_ ," the portly man said, with a bit of venom in his voice.

Gaara suddenly lowered his head, and sighed in a rare sign of exasperation. Temari and Kankurou exchanged quick glances from behind their brother's back. If Gaara was this frustrated, frustrated to the point that he would sigh like this, then things were about to get ugly.

 _Really_ ugly.

"Am I to take it that your previous statement regarding the Akatsuki was a confession?" Gaara asked coolly, bringing his head up slightly to glare at the man through his shadowy eyes.

Tonma suddenly began to cackle in laughter, his sharp and shrill bursts of amusement ricocheting off of the walls, making Temari cringe in anger. "A confession? Boy, you don't deserve even that!" He laughed for another few moments, before leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms across his wide chest. "As far as this village is concerned, you are trash. Worthless trash that needs disposing of."

He untangled his arms and grabbed the hat from his head, slamming it down into the desk with a _bang._

"You are a demon. A demon that was tainted forever with the evil presence of the Sand Priest Shukaku. Filth like you aren't fit to lead something as powerful as a village. No. You were supposed to be tamed by it, molded by it until you were a tool worthy of defending the Sand in its greatest times of need." He narrowed his eyes at the red-clad teen, before shifting glances back and forth across all three Sand shinobi.

"But no. You failed at that as well. You are a broken tool, _Lord Gaara._ Your father could see that. Your village could see that. The council of elders could see that. And that is why you must die here, properly. Your existence is detrimental to the wellbeing of this village, and to the Oukui people. Therefore, it is my first duty as Sixth Kazekage of the Hidden Sand to wipe the floor with your valueless existence!"

Silence.

Only screams from below.

Then, suddenly, the unthinkable happened.

Gaara _smiled_.

Temari immediately paled, and took a step back. This was bad.

"Tell me, Tonma," Gaara said with a gleam in his eye. The ground began to rattle, plants and paintings and unsecured furniture started to topple to the ground with a crash all across the Kazekage Tower. "You say that my existence is detrimental to this village, and to the Oukui people."

He took a single step forward, and the tremors immediately tripled in strength and intensity, causing the windows to rattle in their frame. The sun outside began to dim slightly, as if a storm was beginning to move in.

"But what about the rest of the village? Unless, of course, you plan on exterminating them all, just like you are doing now." His smile immediately shifted into a scowl, and he took another step forward.

The light coming in the windows from outside began to grow dimmer and dimmer, until the only thing illuminating the room was a faint blue glow that began to seep out of Gaara's body.

Tonma's eyes widened in surprise. ' _I thought he was still in an injured state! How can he still be so powerful?!'_

"If that is the case, then unfortunately, it is my duty to inform you that as Fifth Kazekage of the Village Hidden in the Sand, as well as an honorable shinobi amongst the ranks of the Village Hidden in the Sand, you are committing treason of the highest caliper. Your actions are unspeakable, and must be dealt with in an equal – or greater – fashion. Tonma Oukui, leader of the Oukui clan, I hereby sentence you to death by execution for the attempt at my life, as well as the murder of countless civilians."

Gaara's expression steeled again as he rattled off the all-too-familiar verdict for someone on death row. His eyes were cold and calculating, and the fire that was beginning to burn behind them sent a shiver of fear down Tonma's spine.

Gaara's chakra spiked, and a massive orb of blue energy began to pulse around him, cracking the floor and the walls and the ceiling of the office. The windows finally shattered outward, sending shards of glass shrapnel down onto the panicking streets below.

"Tonma Oukui," Gaara repeated, this time shouting in rage. "You will die today!"

* * *

"Are you sure about that?"

Gai blinked, and turned a little to the side with a smile. "I thought I had heard something. It appears that teamwork in the Akatsuki is as youthful as I would have imagined."

"Hn," came the voice from behind him, and Kisame's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "I was wondering if you were going to show up. We _were_ causing quite the commotion."

The voice ignored this. "Have you completed your objective?" She said calmly.

Kisame snorted. "Of course not. Do you know how hard it is to get into the Hidden Waterfall village without being detected? I thought that the leader didn't want us to blow our cover too much just yet. Obliterating a Hidden village would certainly do that, wouldn't you agree, Konan?"

Gai took a step to the side and observed the newcomer properly. He was surprised to see a woman, adorned in the traditional Akatsuki robes, _flying_ several feet above the ground.

Her hair was a vibrant electric blue; it dipped down past the large collar of her cloak to an unknown length, while most of it was wrapped in a small bun on the left side of her head. Her amber colored eyes bore into Kisame's, accented only by the lavender eyeshadow that coated her upper lids in a menacingly beautiful fashion. Her lower lip was pierced, adding to the powerful and almost god-like persona she exuded.

Most surprisingly, however, was the fact that her figure looked to be disjointed and broken in multiple places, and her cloaked arms and legs faded to an off-white hue before disappearing completely. Attached across her back were two massive paper wings, pulsing slightly as she hovered, displacing the paper that floated around her in a disorganized fashion.

The large, light blue paper flower in her hair fluttered slightly in the wind as she turned to look at Gai, who was panting slightly and taking a position that was better suited for defense. There were two opponents now, and he had never seen nor heard of this Konan individual before.

"You will not fail the leader. If I must assist you in defending yourself, so be it," she replied emotionlessly, narrowing her eyes at the green, spandex-adorned man.

"Bah! Do I look like I need your help?" Kisame smirked, before sticking a ringed hand out in front of him. Nothing happened for a few moments, before suddenly the massive form of Samehada could be seen rocketing through the trees to its master. It connected with Kisame's outstretched palm with a small _slap_ and began to wrap itself around his body and glow.

Almost immediately, any and all wounds that Kisame had amassed during his short brawl with Gai began to evaporate and disappear completely. Gai blinked in morbid fascination as the Tailless Tailed Beast called upon his power.

"I hope you're warmed up, Might Gai," he smirked at the man, before turning and giving a slight scowl to the woman. "And just stay out of my way, Konan. You'll get the Seven-Tails."

"Very well. When you are finished here, join the others. The leader has already succeeded in capturing the Six-Tails. Sealing is to begin immediately," she stated plainly, before exploding into a wave of paper and riding the air currents off into the distance.

Gai took advantage of the distraction, and immediately leapt into the air. If he was going to win this battle, he would need to do it fast.

He was already beginning to run on empty.

* * *

Beneath the Kazekage's tower, the Oukui clan was having its way with the Village Hidden in the Sand. What little shinobi the honorable clan held was made up for with the support of mercenaries and other for-hire workmen. As the villagers ran around the bloodied streets in unadulterated terror, the Oukui ninja battled it out with the shinobi of their rival clan, the Yoku.

Although neither was fighting for honor. No. They were fighting for victory – for absolute control over the other. Finally, after nearly a century of having to coexist, one clan would come out on top as the rightful superpower of the Hidden Sand.

At the base of Gaara's old office tower, Tonto Oukui and Reima Yoku, the second-in-command for each of their clan's forces, were battling to the death in a heated exchange of kunai, puppetry, and wind-based ninjutsu attacks. It was an impressive display of power for two of the most infamous shinobi the Hidden Sand had ever produced, and their exhibition was doing quite a number on the landscape and surrounding buildings throughout the central district of the city.

They had actually drawn quite the crowd; shinobi and mercenaries from each side stopped for a moment in awe to observe the power of the Sand village at its highest. However, after the fighting dragged on for more than thirty minutes, they were left to their own devices, battling each other in the streets alone.

After a rather lengthy taijutsu spout between the two men, they leapt back several feet in opposite directions in order to compose themselves and prepare for the next attack.

Tonto smirked knowingly at his greatest rival, finally seeing the end of their tumultuous relationship in sight. He was going to end the low-life Yoku trash once and for all, and finally rise to the top of his clan in a few years. Of course, that would all happen after his father, Tonma, died as well, but one bridge at a time. "You know, Reima, we can go at this for hours. I'd much like to finish this so I can finally take out the rest of your pathetic clan."

Reima scowled at the rather large, hairless man, before screaming back at him in rage. "How dare you! I will destroy you, and once and for all the Yoku clan can destroy your pathetic oil industry! It has done nothing but cause pain and suffering for us since its inception!"

"HAHA!" Tonto bellowed, pointing a mocking finger at the slim, red-haired figure across the street from him. "You really think that your puny puppets can actually stand a chance against our superior wind jutsu? WE are what give this village its purpose! You Yoku simply get in our way!"

Reima screamed in anger, and charged at his rival once again, before pulling a pair of small scrolls out of the sleeves of his standard-issue Sand shinobi outfit and materializing a pair of small wooden spheres. With a contorted twist of his hands and fingers, the spheres began to float in the air, before suddenly splitting on the equator. Both puppets extended a pair of long, spindly arms – each with a rotating saw blade at the end, dripping in a purple, menacing looking fluid. The puppets then began to spin in midair, creating a pair of deadly rotating orbs of sawblade and poison, forcing Tonto back a few feet.

With another roar, Reima thrust his palms outwards, and the two massive spheres of metal shot forwards. Tonto immediately somersaulted to the side in an attempt to evade, but the puppets changed course and began to follow him as he fled. He ducked and weaved as long, sharp swords shot out at him, also dripping with poison.

"My greatest creation!" Reima shouted with a crazed smile. "These puppets are unstoppable! Give up and accept death!"

Tonto was forced to lean nearly completely backwards on his feet to avoid the thrust of yet another massive blade, before rolling to the side.

Suddenly, another blade appeared in front of his face, coming at him much too quickly for him to simply dodge.

 _CLANG!_

Tonto was now on his feet, wielding a kunai, as it blocked the blade in a shower of sparks and sound. He glared in fury at the spindly little man that was standing off to the side of the field, operating the puppets from the sidelines, and immediately began to hatch a plan.

He quickly dipped his hand into the small pouch at his side, and leapt back away from the spiraling puppet of death as he pulled a second kunai from his person. Without skipping a beat, he shot both knives at Reima, accelerating them further with a blast of wind chakra, before being forced to duck another blade that shot out at his neck.

Reima narrowed his eyes at the oncoming projectiles, and summoned another puppet in one fluid motion from a seal on his wrist. This puppet was also sphere-shaped, although much larger and completely covered in metal plating. The puppet immediately split into eight segments, and the four closest to the incoming kunai shot open and folded outwards into the shape of a medium-sized satellite dish.

All of this took place over the span of less than half a second, as the kunai approached him at blinding speed.

They moved closer and closer, before suddenly-

 _CRASH!_

The pair of kunai struck a large wall of blue chakra, before falling to the ground harmlessly. The chakra shield began to flicker and fade, as Reima simply smirked from behind his defensive-style orb puppet.

"You'll have to try harder than that! This puppet is indestructible!" he laughed, as Tonto continued to evade the ever-encroaching presence of his two attack puppets.

With a roar, Tonto clenched his fists and let loose a massive wave of pure chakra, stopping the two incoming puppets by interfering with the chakra strings that gave them their instruction.

Not one to waste moments of opportunity like this, Tonto immediately flew into a series of hand seals. Reima looked on in anger as he pumped more chakra into his strings in an effort to get his puppets back on the offensive, but to no avail. How could he have overlooked such a serious flaw with his ultimate designs?

Tonto took a deep breath as he finished the last seal.

"Wind Style! Air Bullets!"

True to its name, the jutsu blasted out of Tonto's mouth at terrifying speeds, catapaulting at the two wooden spheres in rapid succession.

Reima could do nothing but watch in horror as the blobs of deadly wind approached his prized puppets. Without thinking it over, he roared in fury, pumping an astronomical amount of chakra through his strings in an effort to 'reboot' his tools, in a sense.

Ten consecutive blasts of air crashed into the first puppet, shattering it to pieces in an instant. The leftover fragments of metal framing, gears, levers, and poisonous blades were obliterated by the next round of bullets, sending the pieces rocketing in every direction. Chunks of wood and metal embedded themselves in the compacted sand streets, the sides of the nearby buildings, and into both Reima and Tonto themselves.

Reima screamed in both anger and pain, as he watched one of his puppets become dust before his eyes. Luckily, his attempt to save them was enough to thrust one of the offensive puppets out of the way of the attack, but he expelled so much chakra in the maneuver that he was unable to reconnect the threads to get it moving again. As such, the wooden sphere was now simply imbedded in the wall of the nearby home, blades lying limp at its sides.

He then turned his attention to himself, and noticed he had a few wooden splinters that were impaled in his arms and legs. Luckily, however, his defensive puppet was able to stop the majority of the shards, protecting the more vital parts of his body. Now, however, due to his chakra depletion, the sphere crashed to the ground in a useless heap at his feet.

Tonto, on the other hand, was not as lucky. As soon as the bullets struck the puppet, he immediately regretted his jutsu choice, as he was struck by dozens of small, needlelike pieces of debris. He howled in pain, gripping his right eye, as a piece of metal had embedded itself deep into his socket and into the back of his skull. He fell to the floor, coughing, as blood began to seep out of his eye and past his hand to the ground.

"You… you bastard," he croaked out, before looking up with his good eye at the weak figure of his opponent.

From the looks of things, Reima wasn't faring much better. He was now panting heavily, and leaning up against a nearby building, positioned behind the damaged frame of his defensive puppet.

Tonto smirked, and attempted to stand up to finish the job, when he felt a searing pain ricochet off of his spine and up into his head. He opened his eyes in horror.

 _'The poison… it must have been all over that puppet…'_

He gulped, and willed himself to stand, even though his body was screaming at him to just lay down and rest.

It seemed that Reima had the same idea, because he too began to rise – albeit shakily. "I… I see you've noticed that the effects of the poison have begun to take hold…" he croaked with a weak grin, before attempting to take a step forward and stumbling a bit.

"…I don't think… you're any better off… Reima…" Tonma spat. "I doubt… you can counteract… your own poison in your current state…"

Reima chuckled quietly, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a lone kunai. "No… probably not…" he coughed and wheezed for a moment into his hand, and his eyes widened when he saw it was coated in blood now. "That's why… I'm going to take you down with me."

Both shinobi began to move towards one another in their last stand – each brandishing a single kunai.

But then, suddenly –

The entire city began to shake violently, as already weakened buildings across the village collapsed one after another in heaps of sandstone and clouds of dust. The sound was overwhelming – like the earth was attempting to snuff itself out in one fell swoop.

Massive cracks began to form down the streets of the village, running up and down the entire desert, all centralized around one point -

The Kazekage tower.

Reima and Tonto looked at each other for a moment, as if asking the other if this was their doing. After a moment of receiving no answer one way or another, they both shrugged, and started walking towards one another once again.

But they stopped again. Tonto blinked his good eye, before leaning to the side a bit and cupping an oversized hand to his ear.

' _Is that a… train? What the hell is making all that sound?'_

Tonto had seen one of the large mechanical beasts lumbering through the hills of the Land of Iron a few months back on a reconnaissance mission, but was not expecting to see one _here_ , of all places. What was going-?

A soft hissing sound began to bounce around off of the walls of the buildings lining the cracked streets. Tonto looked back up at his opponent, only to see pure terror etched across his face.

With a shaky finger, he pointed to the horizon, behind where Tonto was standing.

He smirked at first, expecting this to be a poorly executed attempt to get him to drop his guard, when he heard the sounds of clashing shinobi all across the village stop, and people beginning to scream much louder than before.

With a sigh, he turned as well, although only slightly. But when he saw the massive wall of sand rising up over the village, he forgot all about Reima immediately.

The entire horizon was swelling in a mass of flowing, twisting, turning sand, as it began to wrap itself around the village walls and rise up above like a dome. Small particles of sand began to drip down from the wall, onto the faces of the two warring shinobi, but neither noticed.

They were too busy trying to comprehend what was happening.

"SHUKAKU!" someone screamed from down the street, and people began to cry in terror. Everyone knew that if the Kazekage died, then there was a very real chance that the One-Tails would be let loose on the desert, and attempt to seek its revenge on the village that had locked it away for decades.

The village was plunged into absolute darkness, as the sea of sand began to flow and bubble tumultuously above them, almost like a stormcloud.

And then, as suddenly as it had started, the sand completely stopped.

"RUN!" people began to yell, as the figures of once battling shinobi began to try to save themselves from whatever came next.

Tonto just gulped, aware of the fact that his life was nearing its end anyway. At least it would be better to die by the hand of the beast quickly, than to succumb to the poison in his system after several agonizing days.

Before he could dwell too much more on his future, the sea of sand shot down from the sky in giant tendrils.

A massive explosion rocked the village as several dozen spires of sand blitzed down from the sky like lightning bolts and obliterated the Kazekage tower. Sand beams blasted through the glass windows, through the walls themselves, through the ceiling, and even through the floor. The sudden change in structural integrity caused the building to crackle and moan under the pressure of its own weight and the sand that was flying across it like a flooding river, before the ground around it began to buckle. Endlessly, the tower was pelted with wave after wave of the brown mist, piling onto itself until nothing but a massive orb was left where the central portion of the village used to be.

Tonto and Reima tried to flee from the incoming waves, as their battlefield was based around the bottom-most floor of the tower. But their efforts were to no avail. Everything – man, puppet, and building alike - was swept into the flowing sphere like quicksand. With bloodcurdling screams, the two clan heirs dipped under the surface, never to be seen again.

* * *

In the center of the sphere, Gaara stood tall atop a small platform of sand, big enough for his siblings and him to stand upon safely. They all watched as the terrified form of the Sixth Kazekage slipped from his precarious position atop of his desk, and the giant swirling, roaring, _screaming_ spherical wall of sand grabbed hold of one of his legs.

He cried out in pain as the sand ripped it away from the rest of his body, peppering the walls of Gaara's jutsu with blood, which was quickly absorbed into the flowing mass of sand. He looked at Gaara pleadingly, and began to open his mouth to beg for mercy.

But Gaara would have none of that. His hair was whipping around his head at the center of the orb, and his eyes were completely white with power as his chakra flew around him, occasionally arcing like lightning to the surrounding sand as it rotated.

The Fifth Kazekage might have lost his thirst for blood after coming to terms with his own existence after his defeat during the chuunin exams nearly three and a half years ago. But this man… this _traitor_ …

Gaara wanted Tonma to feel every ounce of his suffering before finally succumbing to the sweet embrace of death.

He stuck his palm out towards the man, much to his absolute terror, and Tonma began to shake his head and quake. "N…No! Please! You can have your job back! You can have your village back! Please, I beg you, don't ki-"

 _SPLAT._

"Spiraling Sand Coffin."

Blood flew everywhere from within the sphere of sand, splattering all over Gaara's unflinching form, as well as his siblings' horrified faces.

Where Tonma had been standing were now two solid plates of sandstone. They had come together in the middle, slowly, and pressed the life out of the man in excruciating detail. Still, it was much too quick for Gaara's liking. His only regret was that he could not have made the man suffer more than he did.

But that was old Gaara.

New Gaara had a village to save.

As his mind began to overcome his overwhelming rage, Gaara sank to his knees and cough heavily. The walls of sand began to deteriorate around them, spritzing them with blood-soaked sand. Temari and Kankurou rushed to the side of their brother in worry, before he waved them off with his free hand.

"No… I must concentrate. I cannot harm this village more than it already has been."

He grunted in determination, raising his head up level with the floor they were standing on. After a few moments the sand began to recede, and small patches of sunlight could be seen poking through holes in the sphere.

Temari looked at her brothers in confusion, before something clicked in her brain. ' _He's moving the sand back away from the village so it does not harm anyone.'_

He strained further, and a trickle of blood ran down from his nose. The platform they were standing on began to crumble at the edges, prompting Temari and Kankurou to etch closer to their brother in worry.

Finally, after a few moments, he raised his hands, and then whipped them to his sides in a swishing motion. Instantaneously, the sea of sand floating above the village flew off from where it had come – outside the city walls.

Blood was pouring out of his nose, his ears, his eyes – his exertion was so great that Temari could _hear_ the blood vessels popping in his face. He was shaking uncontrollably, as he tried to hold onto consciousness and the last little bit of his chakra, until –

The waves of sand had _just barely_ passed over the city walls when Gaara fell forward, unconscious, with a thump.

Instantly, the clouds of sand, which were floating several hundred feet in the air, fell from the sky in one solid chunk. They struck the desert around the Hidden Sand with a massive blast of energy and dust, and more buildings across the village collapsed under the significant quaking.

Temari grabbed ahold of Gaara, as the sand platform they were standing upon disintegrated as well, sending them tumbling down towards the place where the Kazekage tower _used_ to stand.

Luckily, their shinobi training kicked in during the freefall, and Temari channeled all of her available chakra to her legs in order to prevent them from breaking under the heavy strain of landing with her younger brother in her arms.

They landed with an audible _thump_ , and Temari immediately winced as she felt the bones in her legs scream at her under the pressure. But they held, much to her, and Kankurou's relief.

After a few moments, Temari set her brother down, and sat beside him, trying to process everything that had just happened. With wide eyes, she looked from her brother, to her fan, to her other brother, to the crater that used to be her brother's office.

Then, she turned to the side and threw up.

"Temari, we need to get out of here. Gaara is definitely hurt. We can't stay here now. We should go to the Leaf and get him looked at."

Kankurou leaned down and looked her paled sister in the eyes to show just how serious he was. "I mean it. It isn't safe here now. Not to mention the fact that the hospital is currently a pile of rubble. There's nothing more we can do right now, other than try to keep everyone calm and reassure them that we'll be back in a few days once Gaara is well enough to be back on his feet."

Temari didn't move for a few moments, before she simply nodded her head.

With a smile, Kankurou bent over and slung his unconscious brother over his shoulders. He blinked when he realized how little Gaara weighed, before he realized why. "Damn, Gaara is ridiculously light. It must be because his sand armor isn't on him right now."

Sure enough, when Temari stood and took a closer look at her brother, he seemed thinner – much thinner. His clothes and bandages were much baggier now than they were previously, and sand leaked out of the holes in his clothes like water, running down Kankurou's back and across his scrolls.

"Come on," Kankurou urged, as he began to take several steps towards the city wall – or, rather, what was left of it. Temari followed behind dumbly, as she observed the carnage of her village with a frown on her face. A lot had happened the last few hours, but now that all the action was over, Temari could barely stay standing from the weight of her village's suffering bearing down on her like a ton of bricks. She shook her head. "And that's why I am not fit for the job of Kazekage," she mumbled to herself.

Kankurou turned to look at her with a questioning gaze, no doubt about to ask her what she had just said, but the look on her face told him to save it. They could discuss it on the way to the Leaf.

* * *

After they walked for a mile or so, Gaara began to stir.

"Wh… what? What's going on? Temari? Kankurou? Where are we?"

Kankurou immediately stopped and set Gaara down, shoving a canteen of water in his face and sitting down next to him. The silhouette of the Sand Village, still smoking from the day's devastation, was positioned down the large sandy hill from them, as Temari took a seat in front of her weakened brother and began to try to feed him a soldier pill.

"We're on our way to the Hidden Leaf village. We need to get you back up to full strength before we return and start to rebuild," she said calmly, as Gaara began to chew the pill slowly.

"And before you say anything, most of the villagers had gone into hiding in their basements or the remains of their homes, so they're safe, for the time being. What little remained of our loyal Sand shinobi are working overtime to guard the walls from intruders until we can return. It will be a difficult job, but those men can handle it. The village will be fine, Gaara. You're its top priority right now. Without a decent figurehead, it will fall further than it did before."

Gaara blinked, still on the verge of saying something, before he closed his eyes and nodded. "Indeed. How far are we from the border? And what happened to Rei?"

Temari frowned in thought, before she snapped her fingers. "You know, I heard a civilian say something about how he was going to blow up the oil refinery that the Oukui built to the north in retaliation, after Tonma beat him to your office. I sent Baki-sensei to investigate. He'll be sitting in as your replacement until you return."

Gaara's eyes shot open at that, and he tried to jump to his feet. Temari pushed him back down, though, and he just looked back at her, eyes darting from his two siblings in terror.

"What? Gaara, what's wrong? Is it Baki? Should we have picked someone else?" Temari said with a questioning look.

"No. No. No! We have to get back… no… Temari, please – if we don't, then the village-"

 _BOOM!_

For the seemingly hundredth time that day, the desert rocked with immense vibration.

On the horizon, past the Hidden Sand, a massive cloud of red-hot smoke and ash billowed into the sky like a second sun. As suddenly as the first, chain explosions began to detonate from around the first, like fireworks in the darkening twilight.

It looked like the explosions were _approaching_ the Hidden Sand.

"When I mentioned that I was working on a diplomatic solution to the problems the Yoku and the Oukui were having, I had an ace in the hole," Gaara suddenly spoke, his tone like death.

"The Oukui weren't going to take no for an answer. So the only way for the compromise to work was if I blackmailed them." He looked up at Temari, who tore her eyes away from the increasingly intense waves of fire and devastation to look into his own.

They were completely broken. She gasped a little. "What do you mean, blackmail?" she whispered.

"I discovered something that the Oukui were desperate to keep the Yoku from knowing. Something that they did without asking for permission. Something incredibly stupid, and incredibly dangerous."

A tear worked its way down his face in a rare sign of pure emotion.

Temari's eyes opened wide at what she was seeing on her brother's face. It was making her heart pound in her chest, and her eyes bulge out of her sockets.

"Gaara… what are you saying…"

"I've failed. I've failed as Kazekage. I've failed to protect my village." He mumbled, another tear dripping from his darkened eyes.

"What are you talking about?! Gaara, what the hell are you saying!" she slapped him, surprising both Gaara and Kankurou, and even Temari.

"Another oil refinery." He closed his eyes as his voice began to waver, not even acknowledging the slap. It was like he was no longer in this plane. "One that was ten times the size of the one the built to the north. They connected it to their other one in order to reduce transportation costs. And they built it somewhere that would boost their profits."

The sky began to flicker in a brilliant orange glow, and Temari turned just in time as she saw the entire Hidden Sand village erupt in the biggest flash of power and energy and fire she had ever seen. It was nuclear in size and strength, and she screamed as her eyes began to burn in their sockets, before she turned away just barely in time, as the entire sky lit up in a brilliant white flash.

"It was built directly underneath the village."


	14. Chapter 14: Nightfall

_*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*_

* * *

 ** _Subjugation_** **Arc:**

 **Chapter 14 - Nightfall**

* * *

Gai leapt into the air as the last of the mysterious Akatsuki woman's paper clone disintegrated into the atmosphere, rocketing off towards his gentrified opponent with a fierce glare.

He only had one shot left, if he was honest.

He _had_ to separate Kisame and Samehada.

"SEVERE LEAF HURRICANE!"

A sweeping kick from Gai towards the outstretched hand of the shark man was enough to break Kisame from his amused trance as he watched his comrade flutter away. He turned in time to see the green-and-orange foot projecting towards him at an alarming pace, and barely had enough time to lift Samehada in defense.

Immediately after making contact with the sword, Gai pushed himself off and back into the air, before twirling a bit to control his direction and momentum, and landing low on the treetops beneath him - right hand outstretched, left hand holding himself up on the surface. He looked like a crouching tiger; not that Kisame had much of a chance to admire his form. Less than half a second after landing, Gai pushed off in attack again. This time, he appeared on Kisame's right, and planted a sharp, chakra-infused punch to his gut. Before he could get off another round of attacks, Samehada was there again, sweeping down in an effort to slice off Gai's outstretched limbs.

But Gai was faster than that. He ducked and rolled, travelling underneath Kisame's legs, before falling forwards on his hands and pushing off in a bastardized handstand-turned-twirling kick.

Kisame pivoted in his position with an unamused expression on his face, flicking Samehada here and there and everywhere with startling dexterity in order to parry Gai's endless taijutsu bombardment.

It was a sight to behold; a green blur of motion spiraling – no, _orbiting_ – around a black cloaked figure with a massive club-sized sword. The treetops they stood upon began to smoke from the friction of the speed and power behind Gai's punches, but Kisame was unfazed. In fact, he was simply beginning to get frustrated.

With a mumble of disgruntlement, Kisame released a massive amount of chakra from his body in a tidal wave of pure power. He used the surge to whip Samehada around in a sphere of bandaged blade, forcing Gai back a bit in order to plan another strategy.

With a few flips across the treetops, Gai landed again in a sophisticated stance, observing his opponent behind slated eyes.

Kisame stopped spinning, and turned to look at Gai in fury. "I grow weary of this, Might Gai. I have other matters to attend to, for people much more important than you. We need to end this, right here."

"Funny… I was just about to say the exact same thing," Gai retorted with his traditional confident smile.

In one fluid motion, Kisame sheathed Samehada on his back, and his fingers were working through a sequence of hand seals before he had even returned them to the front of his body.

"Water Style: Water Shark Bomb Jutsu!"

A steaming cloud of water from their earlier encounter rose up off the muddy forest floor, and began to amass into a giant shark. With the flick of his wrist, Kisame sent the ethereal beast on a collision course with the green jounin, who was still standing on his perch: watching, thinking, _calculating_.

As the shark grew closer and closer, Gai sighed and closed his eyes.

He didn't have a choice at this point. Gai was growing more and more exhausted by the minute, after releasing the first six gates in quick succession in their previous skirmish.

And it hadn't been enough.

A heartbeat.

The self-proclaimed Green Beast of the Leaf village began to glow in the color that described him best, waves of pure power flickering through the sky like superheated air over hot asphalt. It was so intense, so _enormous_ , that the atmosphere began to grow thicker and heavier with each passing moment.

Time seemed to slow down.

"SEVENTH GATE OF WONDER, OPEN!"

Suddenly, he _exploded_ , a beam of pure green energy blitzing off into the heavens like a beacon to the gods.

Kisame grimaced from the light and covered his eyes with one of his outstretched arms, quickly retrieving Samehada from his back with the other. He was going to need it, if this was his opponent's ultimate trump card.

With a wince, he peeked around the corner of his arm to see. He smirked at the sight before him.

Gai was so entrenched in power that Kisame couldn't see his form from behind the green-white cylinder of energy that was spewing off of him like the floodgate for a dam. More and more chakra came pouring out – so much that the Taillest Tailed Beast could tangibly feel it from across the forest.

The same forest that was now beginning to _flatten_ under the immense pressure. It was simple enough to imply that the Water Shark Bomb Jutsu from before had been dispelled due to the churning, tumultuous sea of chakra that rushed across the surface of Fire Country like a tsunami.

Kisame had other things on his mind. In fact, he was practically vibrating with excitement.

He was going to get to use _that_ jutsu.

He hadn't been able to use it since the first 'spar' he had with his teammate, a few weeks after being paired up together.

Kisame internally rolled his eyes when he remembered that technically it was all in his head, due to the fact that Itachi had placed him under a powerful genjutsu the instant he had walked onto the battlefield.

His frown returned to a maniacal grin when he realized what that meant.

This would be the first _real_ time he was going to get to use it in battle.

He took Samehada and slammed it into the ground to stabilize it, before he ran his trembling hands through a series of handsigns, having to take his time in order to compensate for his excitement.

No matter. It would all be over soon enough anyways. He could stand to wait a few more moments, and savor each passing second of it.

First, he created more water from the surrounding environment. What was left over from their previous engagement, and what was left after Gai's gate release vaporized most of it instantaneously simply wouldn't do.

 _Snake. Bird. Snake. Dog. Ram._

It was more of a bastardized version of two of his more powerful water accumulation jutsus, but he had to be sure he would have enough. It wasn't like they were battling over an ocean.

"Water Style: Massive Exploding Water Shockwave," he said, drowned out by the sound of Gai, who was still amassing power at an alarming rate.

The ground began to rumble, much more violently than before. Trees seemed to shrink, leaves wilting and roots lifting out of the soil. Small beads of mist began to conglomerate with one another, before those much larger balls of water joined with others, and so on and so forth, until at last a giant bubble of water - easily the size of a small lake - was enveloping the two shinobi.

As the water rushed around Gai, most of it was superheated and instantaneously boiled away. The water's harsh reflective properties dampened the green beam's visual intensity, granting Kisame visage of his opponent once again.

And to his surprise, Gai was _smirking_.

He couldn't help but smirk back. Gai had no idea what was coming.

Kisame moved his hands through the water in a surprisingly quick fashion, as he was now completely immersed in his element – literally.

 _Clap!_ Even underwater, the sound of Kisame's rubbery palms connecting with one another sent reverberations through the liquid, rippling outwards like waves. Then, his fingers began to run together, forming the snake seal.

Then, finally, his hands formed into a rather unconventional seal, but one that seemed to work regardless as Kisame pumped a massive portion of his chakra into the technique.

"WATER STYLE, SUPER SHARK BOMB!" he screamed underwater.

And then, quick as lightning, Gai was gone.

But not untraceable. A stream of bubbling, boiling water shot out in a straight line, away from the water cloud.

' _You're not getting away from me that easily,'_ grinned Kisame, as the water began to spiral outwards away from his body, in the direction of Gai – who was now steadily glowing green, standing in his taijutsu pose several hundred meters away.

The water swirled so much, and so quickly, that it began to force itself into a horizontal cylinder. The flowing torrent began to glow a light blue, and _teeth_ seemed to grow from the mouth of the thalassic tunnel. (Translator Note: keikaku means plan, but also thalassic means 'of the sea')

Gai watched in fascination as a 40 foot tall and 200 foot long shark was born right before his very eyes. He shook his head. No matter. He had opened the Seventh Gate.

He could match almost anything at this point.

With another surge of green power, Gai leapt in the air, as the giant floating shark bellowed out in hatred. His speed was almost instantaneous.

Gai soared up several dozen feet vertically, before a massive shockwave enveloped the forest as he took off towards Kisame, seemingly using the air itself as a launching point. He flew through the sky at a terrifyingly fast pace, warping the atmosphere in a green flash as he rocketed off.

Before Kisame could even blink to focus on his now _flying_ target, Gai had planted thirteen sharp kicks to the shark's ribs, half a dozen elbows across his limbs, and several punches in quick succession across his face and chest.

All of this happened in less than one tenth of a second, at which point Gai retreated back out of the water vortex until his next attack.

To Kisame's eye, Gai was there – and then gone – and then there again.

And then his entire body began to scream under the telltale pressure that signified a lost taijutsu match.

"Agh!" he hacked underwater, clouding the area around his face with a dark crimson red.

Gai took this as his sign, and he leapt forward again.

But Kisame was prepared this time. He summoned Samehada from the forest floor, and quickly began to swirl it around in the water like a bastardized Gentle Fist-style rotation. The water swelled and flickered in its shark form under the tremendous pressure of Kisame's kenjutsu skill, somehow withstanding the fearsome might of the taijutsu god that stood before him.

Or, rather, _flew_ before him.

Gai was moving so fast that the laws of gravity and time did not seem to apply to him. Punch after punch, kick after kick was blocked – barely – by the nimble hands brandishing the massive sentient sword. After not landing a single hit this round, Gai switched taijutsu forms, abandoning his well-frequented Strong Fist for a more hybridized form of all of his styles – including Gentle Fist. He _was_ the sensei of the technique's most up-and-coming wielder, after all. He made a concerted effort, however, to not use the Hyuuga's taijutsu form for one simple reason: Rock Lee.

It was a little known fact that Might Gai was, in all actuality, capable of using ninjutsu and his chakra network to its fullest extent. He purposefully handicapped himself once taking on his caterpillar-browed clone as a student in order to help Lee understand that a ninja can be just as powerful _without_ those benefits. It allowed both Lee and Gai to blossom under the restricted training they endured, granting them with tremendous strength and physical prowess on the battlefield in comparison to their much weaker ninjutsu counterparts.

Counterparts such as Kisame Hoshigaki.

Gai still, if he was honest, did not like to use chakra through the usual channels, such as elemental releases or even pure manipulation, in regards to Minato Namikaze's Rasengan. Instead, he preferred to practice it via more supplemental, secondary means – such as through summoning or, in the case of this battle, enhancement of his already brutish taijutsu skill.

The Green Beast of the Leaf willed his inner power to flow to his fingertips, forcing them to glow a harsh blue color in contrast to the crystal clear water around him and his opponent, and his still-green, still-circling form.

The orbiting green sphere that circumnavigated the other began to flash blue, blinking across its surface like lightning strikes from a storm being viewed from high in the atmosphere.

Even if one possessed the Sharingan, the most proficient high-speed battle monitoring tool known to shinobi-kind, they would be hard pressed to view what Gai was subjecting his fishy foe to without serious mental concentration and focus. Even then, the jounin's movements would be basked in a blurry glow that would render its foreshadowing capabilities useless.

To say that Gai hadn't done this on purpose would be a complete and total farce. In all actuality, he developed this particular style of taijutsu for the sole purpose of getting one over on his lifetime rival and ninjutsu master, Kakashi Hatake. Before, Gai was a force to be reckoned with.

Now, he was a weapon of mass destruction.

Blue-tipped fingers ripped their way through Kisame's defenses, blasting his sword aside as they approached his body. After breaking through, Gai's hands would rapidly blast forward like a scorpion's sting, before coming into contact with his blue-hued skin.

Anyone that had battled a Gentle Fist master in the past would be able to tell you that to allow your opponent one touch could – and almost certainly would - be the end of the battle. Once contact has been made, the shinobi simply channels chakra to his fingers, and releases control on it quickly before it can properly amass. The result is a highly precise and deadly blast of chakra that infiltrates the victim's body on a cellular level, disrupting its own natural flow and paralyzing the opponent's chakra network. The Hyuugas preferred to use less violent methods of dealing their blows, giving their technique – the Gentle Fist – its rather unimaginative name.

Gai was not a Hyuuga.

The instant his fingertips made contact with Kisame, they jammed into him with the force of a condensed punch, breaking bone and blood vessels under their tremendous power. This was then, of course, followed by an unimaginable blast of chakra that dwarfed anything a Hyuuga could produce. This was due completely to the fact that Gai was utilizing the unhuman strength the Seventh Gate granted.

Without the Byakugan, the Hyuuga's "All-Seeing Eye", Gai could only estimate where to aim his attacks. Quantity definitely trumped quality in Gai's fighting style, meaning that he didn't have to attack at exactly the right spots in order to do the same damage as a fully-fledged Hyuuga prodigy. Instead, he simply peppered an entire region of his opponent's body, hoping that he struck something important as he went along.

As Gai blitzed across Kisame's body, waves of his compressed chakra shot through his arms, legs, torso, neck – everything that was exposed.

Once Gai could keep up his rotation no longer, he flew back once again through the surging water in order to assess the situation. He was sure that he had made significant damage – this was his strongest hand-to-hand technique, after all.

As Gai fluttered back down onto his treetop of choice several dozen yards away from the border of the water orb, he peeled his eyes at his opponent.

Kisame simply stood there glaring back at him, Samehada held off to the side in a menacing fashion, as he leaned forward in an attempt to launch his own attack.

But then, after a rather intense heartbeat, Kisame's eyes shot open.

Almost instantaneously, his entire body erupted into massive, quarter-sized lesions that dug holes through his skin that were nearly half an inch deep at the worst, a tenth of an inch deep at best. Blood exploded out of his body like water from a punctured balloon, polluting his preciously clear and pristine pool of water with the red life-giving fluid.

Gai grimaced slightly at the gurgled scream that Kisame let loose, before frowning as the scream morphed from one of pain into one of fury.

Pure, unadulterated fury.

"YOU SNOT-NOSED BRAT," his voice bellowed through the forest, seemingly amplified by his massive shark jutsu that still stood despite the obvious disruption of his chakra network. He let Samehada float in the water in front of him, suspended in the water like gravity had been deactivated.

Gai began to move again.

But this time, Kisame was slightly faster. His fingers flew into another archaic hand seal, and the entire figure of the shark began to glow and flicker blue, like some sort of barrier had been erupted across its watery surface.

 _'Just in time, too_ ,' Kisame thought, as the blurred figure of Gai attempted to gain entrance to the shark's body once again and was violently dispelled.

The Akatsuki member grinned his usual grin as Gai landed on his tree once again, positioned in his standard taijutsu attack pose – right hand behind his back, left hand outstretched, palm facing his face and fingers pointing to the sky in the universal symbol of "Shall we, then?"

"Your time for stinging me like a bee has come to an end," he smirked, as he urged his pained and perforated arm to move forward and retrieve his sword from its unmoved position in the water before him. Almost immediately, the hilt of the sword wrapped around his hand like a noodle, and a surging glow began to pulse through the water.

Gai sighed mentally as he watched the shark man's injuries evaporate before him. Then he spoke as well, voice altered slightly due to the power fluctuating through his system. "I see you have erected some sort of chakra barrier around your little shark friend," he said casually, but with a hint of unbridled determination. "It would seem that I will have to switch from close-range to long-range attacks."

He allowed a smirk to grace his own features as he bent his knees and began to channel more of the Gates' residual chakra through his system. With irisless eyes, he stared at Kisame unwaveringly. "Unfortunately for you," he added at the narrowing of his eyes.

"Unfortunately for me?" Kisame mocked, as he flexed his restored muscles in satisfaction. "No. You see, this shark I have summoned is like no other. It takes your attacks' chakra and feeds it into the jutsu. I no longer have a chakra link with it – which is why your feeble attempts to disrupt my network and dispel it were to no avail. No. This shark is invincible: my greatest creation. You cannot hope to defeat it. It is impervious to chakra!"

He stretched his hands outwards in a display of confidence, and the shark roared in affirmation.

Gai simply focused on his chakra as the beast's roar rippled through the air, flicking his hair across his face and the leaves through the trees violently.

Then, he smirked.

He was ready.

With another roar, joined this time by the battle cry of Kisame, the shark and man leapt forward in a fury of energy and water and hate.

Gai, too, leapt forward, as a giant silver figure exploded outwards from his right fist, which trailed behind him like a comet's tail. His left hand was raised before him, palm outwards, as he charged.

"HEAR MY YOUTH ROAR!" he bellowed, as he sent his fist flying forward with a speed the cracked through the air. His coiled hand went supersonic, sending reverberations into the atmosphere at a terrifying pace. The reverberations began to fold over one another and morph into something solid, yet unidentifiable.

Then, the fist collided with the palm.

And the forest _exploded_.

Kisame's eyes widened first in shock, but then in glee, as he watched the ethereal figure of a massive grey tiger blast into existence before him as Gai's hands collided. The tiger appeared to circle around Gai's glowing form atop the remains of his tree, before it leapt above him with a snarl, and charged at the approaching shark.

"EXCELLENT!" Kisame bellowed, but the sound of his booming voice was easily paled in comparison to the sound of roaring wind and whipping water as they connected.

* * *

Konan floated above a nearby mountaintop in slight curiosity. She knew this fight would be catastrophically devastating – nuclear, even. For that purpose, she directed her paper to float her to the top of a nearby peak in order to easily observe without becoming collateral damage.

When she could vaguely see the form of Kisame explode in blood after the strange green-clad shinobi's violent frontal assault, Konan nearly jumped in to stop the match and lend a hand. The man's survival was crucial to Lord Pain's master plan. His death could not be afforded.

But when she saw him lead his shark in a charge shortly after being healed by that demonic sword of his, she sat back down again.

She turned slightly to will her paper creatures to take to the sky and alert Pain to this development, when she noticed a massive white glow erupt from the battlefield. She was forced to squint her amber eyes in both shock and pain as the glow expanded outwards exponentially, threatening to cross the mile or so distance between herself and her comrade in battle.

The shockwave hit before the sound, but both collided with her cloaked form nearly simultaneously, blasting her off balance and forcing the blue-haired kunoichi to take to the skies and ride it out in the air.

BOOOOOOM!

Konan watched in abject fascination as uprooted trees and entire chunks of earth and stone, some the size of houses, flew past her. More than two thirds of her paper birds, already en route to their leader, were incinerated by the tremendous heat that followed, and she grimaced in displeasure.

With several strong flaps of her paper wings, Lady Angel stabilized herself and narrowed her eyes at the smoking crater of what used to be a pleasant forest located within a small valley between the mountain ranges in the western portion of the Land of Fire. She was certain the shockwave could be felt for miles in each direction, which only further heightened her calm fury.

Pain would _not_ be happy at the trouble this Leaf shinobi had caused.

She had to put a stop to it herself, Kisame's wishes be damned.

With a frown of indignation, she blitzed towards the battlefield in a flurry of white and black.

* * *

Gai looked on at the devastation caused by the collision between his Daytime Tiger jutsu and the Akatsuki member's strange shark. He was now standing in the center of a massive, kilometer-wide crater that used to be a forest, surrounded by the whipping wind that carried the dust and debris from the attack through the air and disrupted his vision.

He began to walk forwards as the smoke began to dispel, and grimaced as he felt the aftereffects of the Seventh Gate of Wonder taking their toll on his body. He raised his forearms up slightly to observe the faint blue glow of steam as it evaporated off of his body in a physical manifestation of his rapidly increasing exhaustion.

With a few feeble steps, he soon approached a dark shadow obscured behind the cloud of dust, and raised his fists before him.

With a quick roundhouse kick aimed at nothing in particular, Gai twirled away the obscuring haze to reveal the form of a badly battered Kisame, crouched behind Samehada, which he was using as a crude shield as it lay imbedded in the ground.

With a strained cough, Kisame stood feebly, blood running down his face from his mouth like an opened tap.

The air wave from Gai's kick continued on behind him, however, and revealed another figure – and Gai's heart leapt up into his throat.

' _It wasn't enough…'_

He feebly reentered his taijutsu pose as the menacing form of the Akatsuki woman from before glared at him from behind the figure of the badly wounded Kisame.

Gai mentally sighed and admitted defeat. ' _I was unable to defeat him with my most powerful Seventh Gate move. With that sword of his, he is essentially undefeatable. And now, with the appearance of another foe, whose abilities are unknown to me, I am out of options. Unless, of course, I receive backup. But that is highly unlikely.'_

The Green Beast of the Leaf narrowed his eyes and determined that it would be best if he stalled for time. "So, you make a reappearance. I was under the assumption that this youthful battle could not possibly get any more interesting." He gave a strained smile, but one that exuded his typical Might Gai charm. "It would appear I was proven wrong!"

"Cut the crap, Gai," spat Kisame. All amusement was washed from his rather exhibitive face after that last battle, for one simple reason – Gai shouldn't be standing. "Just what did you do to overcome my most powerful jutsu like that? Not even Tailed Beasts can withstand its exponentially increasing power." He allowed the shadow of a grin to grace his face. "After all, chakra is chakra."

"Therein your problem lies," Gai quipped with a small smile of his own. "You see, the Daytime Tiger jutsu is a purely taijutsu move. There is no chakra within it." He locked his black eyes with Kisame's. "It's just a superpowered punch. Nothing more, nothing less."

* * *

Kisame narrowed his eyes as he feebly took to his feet, before dislodging Samehada from the rubble beneath him. Immediately, like before, the strange weapon began to feed chakra and life to its master, seemingly rejuvenating him to his pre-battle state. Konan stood behind him. Her eyes never left Gai's as she watched him converse casually with Kisame, reading his very vivacious body language.

' _He's weak. Weaker than Kisame. Were it not for Samehada….'_

Konan raised an eyebrow subtly at that fact. In all her time within the Akatsuki, and from everything she had heard of the former Ninja Swordsman of the Mist, no one – not even Itachi Uchiha – had ever pushed Kisame this far. And it was all done by this strange looking man in spandex from the Hidden Leaf.

But his devastation was not one-sided. Konan could tell by the way Gai was standing that he was running on empty. He probably could not withstand another lengthy spar before succumbing to his injuries.

The perfect opportunity for her and Kisame to leap in and attack him together.

"Konan."

She blinked, as the shark's sharp call broke her from her thoughts.

"I thought I told you I could handle this on my own. Get the hell away."

The kunoichi bottled up the rage at the insolence that this man was demonstrating, deciding instead to release it in a moment on the green man. The only outward sign she gave that she actually received the man's 'order' was a subtle shift in her eyes from Gai to Kisame.

"You are out of time, Kisame. This can go on no further. We must finish this _now_."

She allowed some of the venom in her voice to leak out into that last word, as she emphasized to the tall shinobi that _she_ was the one in charge here, not him.

Luckily, it appeared that Kisame got the message and smirked. "Fine. Just don't get in the way of Samehada and you'll be fine."

She didn't bother to respond to that as she turned and refocused on her new opponent.

To her surprise, she saw deliberation flash behind Gai's odd eyes.

Pain. Sorrow. Regret.

And then…

 _Unparalleled determination_.

A nagging feeling began to pulse away at the back of her head. It was a strange feeling, one she hadn't felt in years. She blinked a few times in confusion as the feeling began to grow in size, slowly but surely.

"Your actions," Gai began, his voice barely above a whisper, as he lowered his face until his shiny, bowl-cut hair obscured his eyes, "are those of individuals who are hellbent to do harm to the Land of Fire, to the Leaf, and to the Shinobi world." His simmering body began to shake with some unknown tremor as he spoke, rage and resolve bubbling up behind his voice as he did so.

Konan frowned. The nagging feeling began to seep from her head into the rest of her body in an uncomfortable fashion. Once again, she couldn't quite place it. It was strange…

"The Akatsuki – you are a most unyouthful menace to this world. You seek nothing more than to cut short the lives of those that show insurmountable promise."

He looked up at Konan, staring her right in the eyes.

Or, so it felt. His irises and pupils were completely gone, leaving nothing but the white of his sclera behind.

The feeling in Konan's gut lurched suddenly as she could _feel_ the air around her dense considerably.

And that's when it hit her.

Fear.

That was the feeling she was experiencing – something she hadn't endured since her early days, as a war orphan, wandering the world in search of food, shelter, love….

….a life to live.

Her eyes widened slightly at this revelation, as her heart began to pump wildly.

' _This man… this is just like…'_

"The Akatsuki must be stopped at all costs."

'He… _Just what_ is _he?'_

The world around Gai exploded suddenly in a violent red fury as his right fist swung forward and slammed into his chest, right above his heart. It took a moment, but Konan realized that he had _embedded his thumb in his own body._

She looked on in a mix of genuine curiosity, excitement, and pure terror as the man began to roar into the steadily increasing howling of the wind.

 _"Konan? Are you okay?"_

 _The blue-haired girl blinked and turned to her orange-haired companion. He simply smiled at her warmly, conflicting with the cold and harsh environment they were trudging through._

 _"Yes. I am just worried…"_

 _"Don't be afraid, Konan," the boy replied with a huge grin. "Those three shinobi from the Leaf managed to fight Hanzou to a draw. A draw! He's the most powerful ninja the Hidden Rain has. If they can't train us, nobody can."_

 _"Yahiko…" came a small, timid voice from behind the pair. Konan turned slightly to focus her attention on the nervous red-haired boy, who had his head down in both apprehension and fear. "…are you sure they're gonna train us? We're just war orphans…"_

 _"Don't start with that crap Nagato," Yahiko said both calmly and firmly. It wasn't a mean statement, just a commanding one. One laced with concern and care._

 _The one called Nagato only bowed out of the conversation as he fiddled with his fingers as they walked, the rain pelting their battered and frail bodies. The war-torn land of Rain certainly lived up to its name, and it seemed, to the trio of war orphans, that each passing day the landscape grew greyer and greyer along with the state of the battles that raged all around them._

 _It was hell, to put it bluntly._

 _And they were purposefully walking right into the middle of it._

 _Konan sighed to try and ease her nerves, but it didn't help as much as she hoped it would. She reached around to the large satchel on her back and readjusted it, taking care not to do anything too rash as to damage it in the process. The satchel contained the only gas mask she owned – and it was more of a fishbowl than a mask, if she was honest. Regardless, it was her only ticket into the more brutal regions of the war – areas where toxic fumes and deadly gasses floated through the air like the constant eerie fog. Her two male companions also brandished their own fishbowl masks, willing to do whatever it took to get out of the cold and the rain and the_ death _._

 _She sighed again. They were currently walking into one of the most dangerous parts of Rain in search of three tutors – three_ potential _tutors._

 _The Legendary Sannin of the Hidden Leaf – at least, that's what Hanzou the Salamander, their 'leader', had called them._

 _There was nothing to say that they wouldn't simply kill Yahiko, Nagato, and herself once they met up with them. It was a chance they were all willing to take – a chance to help Yahiko with his dream._

 _'I am going to stop this damned war, and take over the world!' she remembered Yahiko exclaiming proudly after a particularly successful market pilfering several months ago. 'Once I rule the world, there'll be no more pain! No more suffering! No more war orphans!'_

 _Konan smiled warmly at that, bringing her hands back down to her front to fiddle with her coat nervously._

 _'Yahiko… I believe in you…' she thought as the trio approached a massive above-ground cave system that speckled a lone mountain range – one that ran right through the middle of Rain country rather ubiquitously._

 _Yahiko's dream had become Nagato's dream. Her dream. The dream of the three of them, together, as one._

 _As a family._

 _And all they had to do was try to win over the hearts and the minds of three of the most powerful people in existence at the time._

 _'No big deal!' she recalled Yahiko clamoring not even three hours ago._

 _Her thoughts were broken by a subtle flash of forest green and snow white at the entrance of one of the upper cave systems in the low-lying mountain range._

 _And from the excited look on Yahiko's face, he had seen it too._

 _"Come on, you guys! That's them, I'm sure of it! The Sannin! Let's go be ninja!" he exclaimed, before running off ahead of them._

 _Konan's stomach began to churn in nervousness and trepidation._

 _'They're so powerful…' she thought, as the feeling of dread spread all across her body, starting from a small point at the back of her neck – one she began to absentmindedly rub in worry…_

"EIGHTH GATE OF DEATH! OPEN!"

* * *

"And what, pray tell, are _you_ doing in the middle of the Hidden Rain?" came a sharp and commanding voice from amidst the waterlogged stone landscape. It echoed across the flat surface of the endless pool, bouncing through the swiftly falling raindrops and ultimately winning out over the sound of the drops connecting with the earth and joining the others.

A brisk flash of lightning through the darkening sky revealed two cloaked figures – one tall and foreboding, the other small and feral.

Kyuubi narrowed his eyes and turned on his heels, stopping his forward progress to look at the face of the man who had summoned his attention. His sandals made a small _splashing_ sound as they rotated and were raised, then lowered back onto the saturated stone pathway he was walking down.

"I'm here on business," he casually replied, as he took the sight of a tall, masked figure before him.

"Hn," Tobi grunted, turning slightly to look out onto the horizon, where a massive, vibrant city glowed uninvitingly with life. "I have a vague idea as to what you're doing. But," he turned back to Kyuubi who was still glowering at him untrustingly, "I demand to know why your plan involves the obliteration of all the great shinobi villages."

"Oh!" Kyuubi grinned creepily, revealing a set of sharp canines. "You heard of that, did you? I just received word that my little scheme in the Sand worked perfectly. I'm quite proud of that one myself, personally. To destroy an entire village without actually pressing the button..." He faded off as he sighed in contentment, obviously satisfied by his work. "Of course, the puppetmasters of the Sand are just as much puppets as the wooden dolls they command. It did not take much to spark civil unrest."

Tobi narrowed his lone eye from behind its hole, but otherwise did nothing.

Kyuubi sighed and ran a weary hand through his formerly golden hair, his Akatsuki ring catching on some and pulling it out with it as it went. He absentmindedly picked the follicles out from between his finger and the ring as he turned to face the village on the horizon himself. "Do not worry, everything I do is for a reason. My plans are resolute. And they do not go against the will of the Akatsuki, but neither are they necessarily for it either."

"Of course," Tobi drawled, his lone Sharingan glowing from behind his orange mask. "You are lucky that your 'plans'," he emphasized the word 'plans' mockingly, "do not interfere with my own. See to it that they continue to do so."

"Of course," the orange haired boy replied with a roll of his crimson fox-eyes. "What ever would I do without your eternal guidance, _Lord Madara?_ "

Tobi snorted in derision and turned to leave. "Do not cross me, Nine-Tails – lest you incur the wrath of Tobi for the _second_ time."

Kyuubi let out a hardly stifled giggle at this. "Oh please. You know as well as I do that you can't control me for long. Two is better than one. But regardless, you need not worry. I need to be able to count on your assistance in the future, if things play out the way I am imagining they will when I come for the Leaf. Why would I want to abandon myself from a potential ally when I might need him most?"

Kyuubi knew he was buttering his words slightly, but they did the trick – Tobi stopped and looked back over his shoulder, eye filled with curiosity and indignation. "Oh? And when might that be?"

"Soon enough," Kyuubi replied, as he turned himself and continued walking. "I intend to save the best for last."

Tobi let out a single humorless chuckle at this. "Of course. I simply cannot wait."

With that, he began to vibrate with energy, as his form began to atomize and swirl away into the darkening abyss.

"I will return when the deed is done," he hissed, and he was gone.

* * *

Gai trembled as more power than he had ever dreamed of coursed through his system. It was a tremendous feeling, but he knew that it was going to be short lived.

Internally, he sighed, and accepted his fate.

 _'I must do what I must do,'_ he thought calmly. _'My only regret is that I am not joined by my prized pupil. His youthful energy would surely allow me to prevail in this most midnight of hours.'_

He smiled grimly as the gate opened completely.

"EIGHTH GATE OF DEATH! OPEN!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, and the world began to shake and quiver under the strain of Gai's might.

Whatever Kisame had experienced when the Seventh Gate had opened was simply a drop in the bucket compared to what was happening now. As soon as Gai had finished his announcement, his body _exploded_ into red flames – flames that leapt high into the air and singed the stars themselves. The light he was emitting was so bright – so powerful – that the heat energy from that alone radiated through Kisame and Konan with a force that neither had ever experienced throughout their entire lives. It burned through their very souls, cooking them from the inside out, before -

With a massive blast of power, Gai leapt into the air, sending a gargantuan shockwave catapulting out across the bottom of the crater and cracking the already compacted ground like it was a pile of sand. Whatever poor, unfortunate flora that lined the newly-formed crater was evaporated instantaneously, and the only thing that protected Kisame and Konan as they stood unfazed at the epicenter was the demon sword Samehada being used as a shield again.

Kisame bristled from behind his prized weapon. More times than not this battle, his trusted companion was being forced into this role. It simply wasn't right for the poor creature.

It wanted _blood_.

And, to be quite frank, so did Kisame.

With a roar, the shark man began to blitz through another series of hand signs, before Gai materialized in front of him instantaneously, and punched him in the arm. Then, he was gone again.

Kisame cried out in displeasure as he felt both his radius and ulna bones disintegrate upon connection. Then, to his surprise, his entire body began to radiate with pain as well, and he looked down to see a familiar sight – massive gashes ripping through his skin that made him look more like a half-grated block of cheese rather than a feared S-ranked missing-nin.

"Ynaaugh!" He bellowed, well beyond the point of rational thought. Gai was going to die. _Now._

Konan stood calmly off to the side, attempting to determine what the best course of action would be to take down this new and formidable foe. Her previous assumption that he was weakened beyond battle-capability was severely mistaken – one that she would intend to never make again.

 _'Never underestimate your opponent, no matter how weak,'_ the faint words of her late sensei rang through her head.

With a flutter of wind, Konan dissolved into thousands upon thousands of paper birds, which all took to the currents from Gai's last attack immediately. After a few moments, Kisame heard Konan's voice faintly call out a jutsu that he was all too familiar with.

"Paper Shadow Clone Jutsu."

The thousands of paper creatures erupted into millions – clouding the sky with white and black and red.

Explosive tags.

With the roar of the wind, the sea of birds shot forward with unparalleled speed, and began to assault the falling figure of Gai as he swooped in to attack Kisame again.

What followed was a terrifying bombardment of explosions – explosions that may have not been very powerful singlehandedly, but once compounded together with hundreds of thousands of other bombs, radiated heat and power and strength that served only to further obliterate the feebly-faring forest.

Kisame watched in abject fascination as his companion showed her true might. Not many had been able to say that they had entered the battlefield with Lady Angel and lived to tell about it. As such, Konan's true capabilities were a complete mystery to the missing-nin – many a bet had been placed, with Kakuzu at the center, of course, to try and guess what exactly she could do.

He smiled as he watched the explosive salvo enter its third continuous minute of devastation. He was happy to say, for his own sake, that even he had sincerely underestimated the Akatsuki kunoichi.

Finally, the dust began to settle, and the former Swordsman of the Mist could feel his hearing return – coupled, of course, with the telltale sign of tinnitus that rang through his head like a broken bell.

As paper continued to flutter about in the air absentmindedly, the segmented form of Konan's head appeared next to Kisame as he stood in awe of her demonstration.

"Let's go," she said curtly.

"Not so fast," came a powerful voice from across the desecrated valley.

Konan narrowed her eyes. "He's fast."

"You don't need to tell me twice," Kisame chuckled as he spit more blood from his mouth and onto the ground. "The bastard's a tricky one. Always has a trick up his slee-"

BOOM!

The shark man barely had time to react as Gai's fist materialized in front of him again, and then was gone before he had a grip on Samehada to block.

"Akgh!" he sputtered, coughing up a few pointed teeth with another slew of blood-mixed phlegm.

"I'VE HAD ABOUT ENOUGH OF THIS!" he screamed, and snatched Samehada from the ground in front of him. Immediately his physique changed, and once again he was returned to his battle-ready state.

Without skipping a beat, he charged ahead, hell-bent on cleaving off the head of the Leaf bastard. He leapt into the air, and was immediately struck back down again by a right hook to the jaw that not even the sharingan could have detected.

It was as if Gai was now the wielder of time itself, and he was going around while it was stopped and wreaking havoc on Kisame's battered body.

He fell to the floor in a crumpled heap, as Konan simply stayed in place, content to watch the battle from her ethereal position.

Her eyes widened when her face was vaporized into a small pile of ash as one of Gai's punches was finally directed towards her.

Without skipping a beat, she rematerialized several dozen feet in the air, high above the smoky basin that Kisame was now lying at the bottom of. She narrowed her eyes as she looked out across the horizon for something that might give away-

BOOM!

Just as Konan saw the apparition of her foe appear before her, she detonated her paper clone, and continued to barrage the region of the sky with paper bombs for another few moments for good measure.

After making sure that Kisame was up and about again, she once again took the form of a human bomb and looked around. Her companion was very, _very_ angry now – so angry that he would most likely attack out of spite rather than out of forethought.

Luckily for him, it took much more than a few detonated clones to piss Konan off.

Gai watched the narrowed eyes of the blue-haired shinobi with a curious gaze. ' _So she's a paper wielder. Interesting. I do not believe to have ever seen one so talented in origami and the manipulation of it.'_

But his attention was completely focused on the quaking blue man that stood beside her, cloak in tatters, blood staining the front of his face and chest as it pooled on the ground beneath him. Still, he stood tall, brandishing his massive scaled sword menacingly, just _daring_ Gai to do something about it.

Unfortunately for him, that's _exactly_ what Gai intended to do.

But he would need a lot of chakra for that.

With a deep breath, he flew forward, using the sky as a launching point, as a massive spectral being appeared around him. He charged chakra into his fists again, similarly to how he did for his Daytime Tiger technique.

But the fiery flames of his youth were beginning to set like the evening sun. Thus, a different technique was summoned from the banks of Gai's repertoire.

"EVENING ELEPHANT!" he bellowed with a voice that quaked the earth, and he set forth towards the two imposing figures like a god smiting a sinner.

Kisame howled in anger as he saw the imposing silver figure of _something_ , presumably an elephant, charge down on him like thunder.

He held up Samehada.

BOOM!

BOOMBOOMBOOM!

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

Kisame flinched in anticipation for another delayed pain response, but none came.

Instead, what greeted him when he opened his eyes was far worse.

 _Crack._

The sentient form of Samehada, held before him in defense once again, began to tremble in pain and fear as a large vertical crack ran down its scaled surface. A soft whimper petered out from its large mouth-like form as the crack began to grow slowly, before finally stopping at a point that put Kisame on edge.

 _'One more hit,'_ he thought in terror, ' _one more hit and Samehada is dust.'_

Konan watched in silent fury as she observed the strongest blade ever to come out of the shinobi world be brought to its proverbial knees in one attack.

She was going to have to go all out. Kisame would be out of service quickly after losing Samehada. They were out of time long ago.

With a roar of indignation, Konan exploded into another small cloud of paper bombs. The ground started to shake, and suddenly thousands upon thousands of additional paper bombs worked their way out of the ground and sped off towards the blurred figure of Gai as he retreated from Kisame in order to amass more chakra.

With a half ram seal, she grunted in an unusual sign of concentration, and the world was illuminated with the harsh glow of insurmountably intense explosions once again.

To a casual passerby, the valley that was once home to quaint wildlife and serene beauty was now nothing more than a glassed scorch in the middle of the Land of Fire – a relic of a battle that was sure to stand the test of time.

Flickers of light echoed across the landscape for miles, overpowering the setting sun and lighting up the sky like a fireworks show. People from all across the nation stopped and turned in order to scratch their heads and frown at the sight they were seeing.

But at ground zero, the valley was hotter and brighter than the surface of the sun. This particular array of explosive tags were some of Konan's most powerful. She had initially been stockpiling most of them for _another_ use, but it seemed that the time for her to reveal her ultimate trump card had finally arrived.

Kisame's beady eyes widened first in shock, then in glee, then not at all as he was forced to cover them to prevent lasting damage. The light and sound coming off of the sky was like that of a bomb of unimaginable power, like a miniature star was being birthed on the surface of the earth, right before their eyes.

He smirked and began to stand, when he noticed something… odd about the explosion.

It was _two sided._

With a careful look, Kisame peeked from around his fingers to the white-hot sky, and frowned at what he saw.

Paper bombs – entire waves of them, flickering about like the surface of a stormy sea, were crashing against a figure…

…who was glowing red. Beams of red-hot energy were radiating off of him like petals falling from a rose, blitzing across the sky and connecting with each individual paper bomb like two armies clashing amidst a great war. The paper bombs exploded effortlessly, but Gai himself was unharmed.

' _That same damned move from before,'_ Kisame thought to himself with a sneer. ' _He is certainly a one-trick pony at times, isn't he?'_

Finally the bombardment drew to a close, and the seemingly unending explosive light dimmed dramatically. A humanoid figure began to form midair from the remaining cloud of paper, taking on the appearance of its master and floating gently back down to the ground next to Kisame.

"He is challenging, that is certain," she stated coolly, eyes locked in front of her.

As the dust and ash settled around them, Kisame could only brace himself for what would come next. He thoroughly expected another flurry of punches and kicks and jabs that would force him to hack up more blood, but when nothing came, he was slightly apprehensive.

Turning slightly to get a look at Konan's papery form, he could see she thought the same thing.

With one particularly swift blast of wind coming down off of the hilltops and floating over the now barren landscape, the dust was dissipated, revealing the form of a rather disheveled and heavily panting Gai. He was in his taijutsu pose, eyes still fiery with power, but they could tell that the effects of whatever he had done to himself were starting to catch up with him.

Kisame composed himself after seeing the state of his opponent, and gave his trademark smirk. "Well, well, well," he repeated, "have you finally run out of steam? As you can see, I always win. You can't defeat me, not as I am." As a sign of his arrogance, Kisame raised his arms out antagonistically. "I will admit, Might Gai, you have proven to be more than worthy of my respect. Admiration, even. You are truly a master of your art. But unfortunately," he reached behind him and grabbed Samehada, "that simply isn't ever good enough. Not for me, at least."

His smirk widened into a massive toothy grin, showing off the pointed tips of his teeth. Whatever had been knocked out from their previous encounter was now firmly back in place, thanks both to his sharklike appearances and the inhuman abilities of the demon sword.

Konan neglected to gloat, simply staring at Gai with her usual stoic expression. The flower in her hair fluttered around in the wind as it continued to whip through the air, rustling her cloak and what was left of Kisame's.

Gai simply smiled from underneath his closed eyes, as he nodded in acknowledgement. "Perhaps. However, none of us shall be leaving this battle alive."

He raised his head up to the darkening sky, admiring the sunset from beyond the raised hilltops. With a sigh of contentment, he smiled warmly, completely disregarding the two weakened Akatsuki members before him.

He was at peace.

"The time has come, Akatsuki. I bid you farewell."

His form erupted into a mass of red chakra flame, the color of blood. What Konan and Kisame didn't realize was that it _was_ his blood, vaporizing from within his body and steaming out of his pores. He manipulated it much like he manipulated the two previous Gates' attacks, and the wisps of life essence began to morph and flow. The sky began to darken under the increased weight that hung in the air, and the earth began to crumble and rattle.

Two vibrant yellow eyes peered out of the red cloud, followed by the rest of a massive spectral beast that erupted from the sky in a fiery fury. A massive dragon enveloped his figure like a gift from the gods, embracing him with his own essence at the twilight of his youth.

It was Gai's last stand.

"Good night," he whispered, as he closed his eyes and charged.


	15. Chapter 15: Repercussions

_*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*  
_

* * *

 _ **Transformation**_ **Arc:**

 **Chapter 15 - Repercussions**

* * *

Tsunade was having a _bad day._

Granted, if one was to look outside of her office at the stunning view before her, they would be none the wiser – but Tsunade knew that something was amiss almost immediately after she sent the Naruto Retrieval Squad on their way, yesterday afternoon.

It all started with yet _another_ tremor – this time, much more jarring. Shizune had been hard pressed to run around frantically, trying to prevent the more fragile things in Tsunade's office (at least, what was left after her… _violent_ display of power), and elsewhere, from bounding off of their perches onto the dangerously solid wooden floor below.

The Hokage shook her head and ran her fingers through her slowly greying blond hair. At least, she _felt_ like it was greying. In all actuality, the beautification henge she sported on a nearly constant basis was more than powerful enough to prevent the physical manifestations of her stress from surfacing, but sometimes, she still felt like she was walking around without it.

Today was one of those days.

It all started with the council, only hours later. Once word got out from her impromptu office "meeting" that Naruto was behind the destruction of the Hidden Cloud (although she never explicitly said such a thing), the civilian councilmembers and even some of the shinobi clan leaders approached her like a bear approaches a bee hive – aware of the imminent danger, but also aware of the necessity to do such a thing.

And so, much to her abhorrence, a meeting had been called for that evening in order to discuss recent events, and, if necessary, act upon them.

Tsunade grimaced, and slammed her fist into the desk again. The poor thing was on its last legs, and Shizune had begged and pleaded with her to be more careful, because a new one couldn't be procured for another few days. But she didn't care – the situation was just _that_ frustrating.

She knew _exactly_ what it was that the council was going to do once word finally got out that Naruto was not only alive, but an S-class criminal. She was only there for show – and for boasting rights. The Leaf council _loved_ to call out the small gaps in the Hokage's power – something that she knew damned well forced her sensei to age several more decades than he actually was supposed to. Ironically enough, most of those incidents under the Third's rule _also_ revolved around Naruto; not that the boy had any idea of it at the time. She had read the declassified information once she took the hat – Naruto was fighting an uphill battle just to live in what little squalor he could, while he was growing up.

It was a personal project of hers, once she became the Fifth, to try and figure out (and fix) the reasons behind Naruto's piss-poor treatment by the village as a whole. It didn't take her long to figure out just how much the Third had been fighting for the boy back when she was on her "sabbatical". He countlessly tried to adopt the boy himself, or allow another respectable family to adopt him in his stead. It was well known among the higher-ups in the Leaf village, primarily the clan heads, that Naruto was, in fact, the son of the Fourth – meaning that the old Sarutobi could trust them to see Naruto as who he was, and for the legacy he carried, not what he was burdened with.

Of course, that was until the proposition was brought before the council.

Tsunade balled up her fist, still wedged between several fragments of her shattered desk, as she thought about it some more. Why, exactly, was his life constantly in the groping hands of the council? What authority did they have over the way he lived, or the life he would lead? He may have been a Jinchuuriki, but that was still not enough justification to treat the child like he was the offspring of trash.

A pent-up sigh escaped her lips, as she slumped back into her chair. She did that a lot these days. Not that she noticed – or cared.

With a frown, and through narrowed eyes, she stared off into space.

Trepidation and worry began to leak into her heart as she continued to think about the situation at hand. No doubt, the councilmembers would try to wring her head for not _immediately_ declaring the boy an S-class missing-nin… and she could honestly see why that was such a bad thing. As it stood, any actions that Naruto took while outside the city walls could be considered sanctioned by the Leaf itself. It was as if their blessing still hovered over his head as he went about, doing whatever it was he did.

Granted, she knew she could probably dispel any sort of political nightmare that could come about from the last week's events simply by stating – truthfully – that the Leaf thought him dead until only just recently.

But regardless, she _should_ have immediately signed the missing-nin paperwork the first chance she got. The window of innocence the Leaf was casually hovering in the middle of was rapidly closing, and it was only a matter of time before something walked through that door that would shatter the Leaf's political standing in one fell swoop.

And so, that was why she was now currently positioned at her (barely standing) desk, in the middle of her dilapidated office, holding her writing hand apprehensively above an official document that was hanging rather precariously over the edge.

But she just couldn't do it.

It had been hard when she was forced to do it for Sasuke Uchiha, nearly three full years before.

But Naruto…

"Why not? Damn it, why not!" she growled to herself, shaking her head angrily, as her pen-wielding hand began to tremble above the page.

She knew _exactly_ why not.

Tsunade just didn't want to admit it to herself.

Admit that she had failed him, his father, her sensei, her grandfather…

…her brother and lover.

Like some sort of sick joke, she could visualize the specters of her two most important people scowling at her from behind the other side of the desk, arms crossed, eyes seething with rage.

' _You failed him… You failed us.'_

With a choked sob, she launched out of her chair and walked towards one of the still-broken windows that looked out over the village. To her dismay, the first one she came to, the first one that she could see properly out of, was the one that faced directly towards the Hokage Monument.

Again, the faces seemed to exude self-doubt, and Tsunade watched in silent consternation as they seemed to shrink away from her, like they were darting away from the village as quickly as they could muster.

She shook her head this time, already expecting the outcome. With a resigned sigh, and a silent tear, she turned slowly back to the desk, ready to do what she had to do, for the sake of the village.

To her surprise, and horror, the imaginary figures of Dan and Nawaki were now joined by four others – no, five. No, six…

Hashirama stood behind the two potential Kage, sporting a rather disapproving scowl. His red-iron battle armor, indicative of his Senju lineage, hung over his body just like she remembered it always had. Long, straight, black hair fell down his head like water from a waterfall. His arms were crossed in front of his chest, and he stood there like he always had – authoritatively, intelligently, _lovingly._

As she turned her weary eyes to meet his, he simply rolled them and turned away, completely disregarding her presence. As he took a step away from her, his form faded away like a wisp in the wind.

"Grandfather?" She gasped, before taking a shaky step forward, and then two steps back when she saw the others.

Her grand-uncle, Tobirama, stood to his right, directly behind Dan. He did nothing, apart from simply looking her in the eye and turning away as well.

Her sensei, Hiruzen Sarutobi, stood beside Tobirama, adorned completely in the solid white robes and hat that he always wore whenever he wasn't working or training. His pipe was in his mouth, off to the side, gripped between his teeth.

With an ethereal puff from his pipe, the Third raised an eyebrow at her, closed his eyes, and then shook his head slowly as he, too, turned away. As the strange ghost-like object faded from existence, the smoke from his pipe lingered for a moment, and Tsunade almost _swore_ she could smell the telltale tobacco that her old teacher, and father figure, would use.

Although terrified to get a better glimpse at the others in the room, her eyes continued moving right on their own accord.

She already knew who the next person would be. If the previous three were any indication, then it could only be one person.

She hadn't known the man personally – or at all, really. He was a war hero during the Third Great War, which was the catalyst for her "field vacation". It was only after the war ended and she was long gone that he was appointed Hokage.

Regardless, Minato Namikaze stared into her eyes with a burning hatred that she had honestly never experienced before. She gasped as the cold, calculating blue eyes, somehow bleeding through the darkness of her office as the sun began to set behind her, ripped through her like a rusty kunai.

His arms were crossed, much like the first two, but his attire was completely different. He wore a traditional jounin outfit of green jacket, blue undershirt, and darker blue pants. A brilliant white cloak was draped over his shoulders, and they ran down his body commandingly, accenting his height and might.

If the specter could shout at her, she assumed the man would already be hoarse. Before she could even react, however, he turned on his heels in fury and began to march off, back into the void – his white cloak, adorned with the kanji for "Fourth Hokage" following him gently in the otherworldly breeze.

But the next two.

She could no longer hold her footing, and fell to her knees gracelessly as she observed the brilliant white mane of the man that she honestly considered her brother, best friend, and rival.

He towered over everything, just like she always remembered that he had. His dark green outfit was flickering under the rays of sunlight that danced through the room as the day began to slowly decay into night.

Jiraiya.

His gaze was the worst.

It wasn't mean, it wasn't hateful, it wasn't angry.

No.

It was _disappointed._

Tsunade had to tear her eyes away from the visage before her, in order to help compose herself somewhat.

It didn't work, however - as the tears came forward, unbidden, past her locked eyelids.

"Stop… please…"

Then, she felt a small hand on her shoulder, much to her surprise. She slowly opened her eyes, and turned slightly from her position on the floor to view the person that had touched her.

Two brilliant, blue eyes looked back at her curiously, underneath a messy mop of blond hair. Six whisker marks were etched across his face like tattoos, and his orange outfit stood out in the darkening room like a lightbulb in the dark. He smiled at her weakly, before standing up with a sad frown, and turning back towards Jiraiya.

"W…wait! N-Naruto…" Tsunade gasped out, now completely out of her senses.

Instead of paying any attention to her, Naruto's figure simply took the outstretched hand of the still-disappointed toad sage, and the two turned and began to walk into the darkness.

"No! Come back here! No!" she shouted from the floor, before falling forward, her forehead connecting with the wood of the desk in front of her with a small thud.

"No… please, no…"

She continued to tap her head against the desk and quietly whisper to herself, as the tears fell freely from her eyes.

She sat there for what felt like an eternity, just thinking about her choices and her actions and her life up to this point. She _had_ been a failure, if she was honest with herself.

Hell, she was a failure to every single person in this village, considering she took off and left it alone for damn near a decade and a half.

Every single shinobi she could have saved from the brink of death.

Every sick and dying patient, civilian and shinobi alike.

Every student she could have taught, to spread her knowledge and help as many people as she could.

No.

She had done none of that. For all intents and purposes, she was a selfish piece of filth.

All of her insecurities, her fears, her deepest regrets came pouring out of her like the tears that just wouldn't stop. It had been a long time coming, if Tsunade was honest with herself. After all, booze and gambling can only do so much, for so long, before things start to break apart.

Finally seeming to calm herself down, she frowned, readjusted herself on the floor, and leaned against the hard wood of her dilapidated desk. With a strained sigh, she laid her head back, resting her hair's cowlick against the groove of one of the drawers.

Then, she chuckled a little to herself, wiping her teary eyes with the sleeve of her dark green haori.

"Leave it to me to have a complete mental breakdown before a council meeting," she grumbled to herself, as she relaxed a bit more.

The moon was now rising fervently through the sky at a slow and steady pace – she had been sitting there, wallowing in self-pity for damn near an hour now. The moon's soft, ghostly glow floated through the broken windows like a fairy, kissing her face with a gentle, altruistic nudge.

The Fifth sighed, and ran a tired hand through her ragged hair. She had no idea what time it was, and how much longer she had until that accursed council meeting, but she assumed that it must be looming on the horizon.

With a huff, she willed her hand to rise above her head and dance about on her desk in an attempt to retrieve something. When calloused yet manicured fingers met the cool, soft paper, she smirked slightly and tugged it towards her – pen and all.

With one fluid motion, Tsunade snatched the falling pen from the air and brought the paper – the same from before – down to her waist. Positioning it on her thigh, she haphazardly scribbled "Tsunade S." on the signature line, and looked at it fervently for several moments before finally forcing herself to her feet, pen in one hand, paper clasped in the other.

She set the pen aside, and reached in her desk for a familiar ink and stamp set. The ink bottle was thrown open as soon as it was found, and a quick, systematic "5" in kanji form was spat across the signature gracelessly.

The Slug Sannin then took the time to fish for her chair against the far wall, bringing it back to her decrepit desk so she could think comfortably.

Finally, the small, shadowy outline of the clock came into her view, and she cursed slightly at the time.

She had an hour.

"Well," she grunted with a shrug. "Best make use of my time."

Her sake drawer was unceremoniously thrown open with a small rattle, and a pale grey bottle was procured from its depths.

As she brought the bottle to her lips, she frowned a bit, taking a closer look. Then, a small sniff.

"Wait," she muttered, "Is this absinthe?"

 _'It would certainly explain the hallucinations…'_

With another shrug, she downed the bottle in one go.

* * *

"Stop! You are trespassing on Hidden Leaf territory! State your names, ranks, and village of origin!"

The two chuunin guards that stepped in for Kotetsu and Izuma while they were on their mission visibly tensed when they saw three shrouded figures stumble down the dark and winding path leading to the front gates of the village. They were no strangers to pedestrian traffic – but considering it was pitch black out, save for the dim light of the moon that sprinkled the treeline with a pale white glow, they had every right to be apprehensive.

After all, according to the rumors that were circulating around the ninja bars, the Hidden Cloud was gone, and the rest of the shinobi world was now locked in a fierce power vacuum – one that desperately needed to be normalized. These could be refugees, or they could be estranged, powerful shinobi that think they can take advantage of other villages' hospitality in order to exploit them for their own game.

The Hidden Leaf wouldn't stand for that.

After receiving no answer, one of the gatekeepers slowly made his way back over to the desk that they sat in for most of the day. His hand hovered over a large red button mounted under the table – one that would summon several ANBU units almost immediately. There was no telling what would happen at that point.

And so, after a bit of deliberation, the chuunin decided to give the three visitors one more chance.

"I repeat, stop where you are! Identify yourselves!"

And, surprisingly, they did.

A rough female voice echoed through the night sky.

"We… we're from the Sand… We need to speak to the… Hokage… immediately…"

"Who are you?" The chuunin replied authoritatively. At the mention of the Hokage, both guards tensed visibly and reached for their weapons. If they had the gall to demand passage to the Hokage, then this could be an (admittedly, poor) attempt at her life.

The girl from before went into a coughing fit, before the trio began to approach the gates again.

As they loomed closer, the ring of light emitted from the buzzing street lamp above the gates began to tug away at the mystery of their identities. Three browned, tan cloaks, synonymous with the Hidden Sand village, appeared before them, surrounding a trio of completely exhausted shinobi. One was completely unconscious, being dragged along by the other two. His form was small and frail, and the chuunin could smell the acute, iron stench of blood on his person.

They weren't faking this – at least, it didn't appear so from first glance.

The woman that spoke before turned her exhausted green eyes up to meet the gatekeepers, causing them to jump slightly as they stopped completely before them, illuminated brightly now by the synthetic gloom of fluorescence. She stumbled a bit, obviously not used to the feeling of standing still for more than a second or two.

' _They must have been traveling continuously, for days,'_ one of the chuunin mused, but he made no sign to allow them passage.

"You didn't answer my question." It appeared that his fellow guard had the same sentiments. The both simply stood there, primed and ready to attack at a moment's notice.

The girl sighed painfully, before coughing again. "Tell… Lady Tsunade… we're friends… of Naruto…"

She passed out, slumping forward onto the gravel before the gates. The other shrouded figure, the one still moving at least, moved quickly to stop her fall before she faceplanted and hurt herself. The chuunin tensed visibly at the movement, but once he sat down beside his companion, cradling their injured third member, they had time to let what the sand kunoichi had said before losing consciousness sink in properly.

It was no secret who Naruto was – although he wasn't considered a legend or even much of a hero, he was still respected more in death than he ever was in life. It shocked the guardsmen considerably, to think that the blond brat had foreign friends; but then again, he did happen to be travelling with one of the Sannin for a good portion of his life towards the end.

"Please," the gruff, strained voice of the purple-faced man called out, breaking them from their thoughts. "We don't have much time. Gaara…" He looked down at the small frame in his lap, "… he doesn't have much time."

' _Gaara?_ ' mused the chuunin. ' _Why does that name sound so familiar?'_

"Stay here," the other gate keeper said plainly to his comrade, who nodded once in affirmation.

A moment later, a unit of ANBU were standing beside him, wielding kunai and various other weapons of destruction. After a small hand signal, they stood down immediately, before looking at the defending guardkeeper with mild curiosity.

"Please notify Tsunade that three Sand ninja are here to see her," he said with a small nod at the ANBU in command, wearing a cat mask.

"What business do these three have with Lady Hokage?" inquired Cat, before turning to look at the three disheveled and downright exhausted nin that sat before her, motionless throughout this whole exchange.

The chunnin only smiled at her. "They say that they were friends of Naruto."

Cat, being a rather high-ranking ANBU captain, jumped ever so slightly at that news. She had, of course, been brought up to speed regarding the events of Tsunade's past week – including her… disturbing discovery that the boy was still alive. That meant that she knew the gravity behind those words.

"I understand." Cat turned on her heels, pointing to two of her subordinates. "You two. Take the two weak ones and get them to the hospital." She turned back to the chuunin guard. "I'll go alert Lady Shizune and Lady Fifth."

With a handsign and a flash, she was gone.

* * *

"LADY TSUNADE!"

"Wh-what? What's the emergency?"

Several polished-off bottles of varying types of liquor came tumbling off of her as Tsunade jumped awake at her desk. She shook her head repeatedly, fussed with her hair, then frowned with narrow eyes at her assistant.

Shizune only sweatdropped. "I thought I told you that you shouldn't be drinking on the job again."

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "So what? I had a shit day. And from the way you burst in here, I take it that it's about to get much worse."

After seeing her students grim nod, she shook her head slowly and leaned back in her chair, tossing aside the sake and absinthe bottles. "The council acting up again?"

Shizune jumped, before grimacing, a terrified expression on her face. "Not exactly, Lady Tsunade…"

The telltale sound of a doorknob twisting echoed through the silent room. Then, it began to move.

Tsunade only raised a single eyebrow as a small, frail looking, cloaked figure entered her office. He was holding his side through the brown, dirt-stained robes, and she could see that he was barely standing, having to lean slightly the right in order to move without toppling over. His face and hair were covered by the large flowing hood of his cloak.

He looked like death – and Tsunade could smell blood from all the way across the room.

"He refused treatment, other than a soldier pill, before he could talk to you, Tsunade," Shizune said with a sad frown. "Besides…" She trailed off slightly, just looking at the figure apprehensively.

Subconsciously, Tsunade reached out with her chakra to test the limits of the man before her. To her surprise, he was essentially running on empty – this was bad. He would die without medical treatment – and he needed it fast.

But before she could open her mouth and let the medic-nin side of her berate him, the man raised a feeble hand up to his hood and began to slowly tug.

Tsunade smirked at his dramatics, reaching for one of her more full bottles of sake.

As her lips moved to the ring of the bottle, Gaara's hood came off.

Cold, distant, _broken_ seafoam green eyes bore into her own. "Lady Hokage. We need to talk."

A heartbeat.

The sake bottle crashed to the ground.

* * *

"Sakura, what are you doing?"

The pink-haired kunoichi simply smirked at Lee, who was observing her antics curiously.

"Some simple chakra control exercises. I'm a medic-nin, and we're required to keep our skill at the peak in order to stay effective in the field. What I'm doing now could save your life."

The two Leaf ninja were currently staked out at their campsite, a little ways away from the Uzumaki shrine they had spent the previous day trapping. The clearing was small, yet cozy – more than enough space for four tents, a small table, and some camping chairs. Lee, in his usual dark green spandex outfit, was perched upon the edge of one of the chairs, staring into the closed palms of the team's medical ninja. She was focusing intently on whatever was inside of her balled up fists, sweat dripping down her forehead.

Lee sweatdropped in an unusual display of confusion. "But all you're doing is holding a rock."

With a bit of a pant, Sakura looked up, locking eyes with Lee. She smiled at him. "Exactly."

After a grunt of concentration, Sakura released the death grip she had on the rock, revealing it to the world.

It was perfectly round – about half an inch in radius, and completely smooth on all sides. Lee looked at it intently for a few moments, before widening his eyes past capacity and jumping out of his chair with an excited holler.

"Incredible!" he exclaimed, raising a fist into the air. He opened his mouth to congratulate her on her accomplishment, but a fist planted itself squarely in his cheek, causing him to fly off to the side and into one of the trees that girdled their campsite.

"What the hell had Kakashi-sensei been saying since we got here?" she hissed through clenched teeth, fuming with anger. "Shut up, Lee!"

"Just what seems to be the problem here?" came a lazy voice from the entrance to the campsite. With the lazy voice came a lazy jounin, brandishing a small orange book and looking over at Lee's quivering form with nonchalant boredom.

"I suspect you already know, sensei," Sakura said sweetly, shooting a sideways glare at the green beast before her. "I told him once, I told him a thousand times – now I gotta get physical." She smiled and rolled her eyes, returning to her chair with a soft _thud_.

Her eyes glazed over as she remembered more of her past life as a team member.

 _'I had to beat Naruto over the head all the time… who would have thought.'_

She smiled somberly, before she felt Kakashi's presence move towards her and take the now unoccupied seat in front of her. He watched her hands with mild interest, but his book was still raised and he was only stealing glances.

"Tell me, Sakura, what is it exactly that medical ninja have to do to keep their chakra control up?"

The kunoichi blinked, clutching the pebble absentmindedly in her hand ever so slightly. Kakashi had _never_ come to her with a question regarding ninja training. She always just sort of… assumed he knew mostly everything about the world of ninja. For the first time that mission, she was shocked speechless.

It would certainly not be the last.

"Uhh," she said dumbly, not sure how exactly how to explain it. ' _I've never had to actually be the teacher before. This is weird…'_

With a quick shake of her head, she rattled some sense back into her brain. "Right. Well, it's simple really. You have to already have above average chakra control in order to even _qualify_ as a medic-nin, so naturally most of the basic training stuff is out. The leaf exercises, tree climbing, that sort of thing. Instead," she turned her attention back to the rock in her hand, holding it up so that Kakashi could see it, "we focus on the small, minute things. Like this, for example." She turned the rock about in her hand, allowing it to roll around slightly across the creases and folds of her palm. "I personally like this exercise because you can do it practically anywhere. While walking, while resting, while reading," she raised a slight eyebrow at her sensei. "Essentially, you take your chakra, condense it considerably, and use it to put pressure across the surface of a rock. Any rock will do. The chakra smashes and compacts the rock into a perfect sphere, if you do it properly."

She set the stone on the table next to her for good measure, and sure enough, it began to roll towards the edge. In one deft motion, Sakura caught the ball as it attempted to make a break for the earth.

"Hm," Kakashi said, with an eye-smile. "Sounds interesting. Mind if I have a try?"

"Of course not," Sakura said with a wave of her hand. "You just have to find your own stone." As Kakashi began to look around the earthen floor beneath them for a victim, Sakura placed the completed stone in her pocket and also began to scout for another.

When satisfied with her choice, she placed it levelly in her palm, noticing that Kakashi was doing the same with a stone he had chosen, mirroring her movements.

"Now, the first bit is pretty easy. The jagged edges are easy to break away and condense. It's once you get to the perfect sphere part that things get really tricky."

To show her point, she closed her palm, and began to concentrate, imagining a hollow casing of chakra surrounding the rock completely, before exerting pressure across its more ragged edges. It wasn't long before she felt the fragments of rock collapsing in on itself and compacting around the middle.

Satisfied with her demonstration, she opened her palm again.

Kakashi nodded in praise at the significantly smoothed over rock. Then, he opted to do the same, closing his lone eye in concentration for a few moments.

When he opened both his eye and his palm again, Sakura pouted. "No fair. Of course you get it down completely in your first try."

Sitting in the jounin's hand was a completely round sphere of rock. He simply shrugged with a sheepish eye-smile, leaning back in his chair.

Then, something in Sakura's brain clicked. "Wait a minute!" She leaned forward in indignation. "You already knew how to do that, didn't you?" She didn't bother waiting for his response. "Why did you have me teach it to you then?"

Kakashi's grin vanished immediately, and he looked her right in the eye. Although he was now serious, there was still a kind and thoughtful glimmer behind it. "Because, Sakura, I wanted to see how good of a teacher you are. Granted, one simple chakra demonstration may not be the biggest deal in the world, but I just wanted to see how you would react to it." He leaned back forward again, resting an elbow gently on the edge of the table. "Getting approached by other ninja, high-ranking or not, for assistance in your specialty, is something that's going to happen a lot in the future. You _are_ the apprentice of the best medical ninja on the planet." He shrugged again. "Not to mention the fact that you'll probably be taking on a genin team of your own one day. You've got to be able to teach well to pull that off."

His eye curled back up into a grin, as he continued. "However, judging by the way you showed me how to do that, I'd say you're more than ready. Call it a sensei's random intuition, I suppose, but I'm glad I tested you just now."

Sakura smiled a little at the praise. Considering she was the last member of Team 7 – well, last member _still in the village_ – it meant a lot to her that her sensei was acknowledging her talent. After Naruto had 'died', the team had been all but abandoned. Kakashi returned to normal Leaf Jounin duties, Sakura focused on her training with Tsunade, and all was right with the world.

Sakura blinked. She realized that this was the first time that she and Kakashi had been on a mission together since Team 7 ceased to be. Then she shook her head.

' _What am I talking about! We just had a mission a few days ago to try and rescue the Kazekage. I suppose_ that _can be considered our first mission back together as a 'team'."_

Although, Sakura had to admit, she was treating this particular mission more as an extension of the Kazekage Rescue Mission than anything else. After the appearance of her long dead teammate, it had been all anyone was talking about. Hell, she couldn't go five minutes without thinking about her blond-cropped idiot of a comrade.

She frowned, pursing her lips in disgruntlement, as she stared off into space. ' _Just what the hell does that fool think he's doing, running around dressed up like that, pretending to be an S-ranked ninja? He couldn't even handle me or Sasuke, let alone_ that _bunch of freaks.'_

Her thoughts drifted back to the briefing meeting they had with Tsunade before departing yesterday. They had poured extensively over all the information regarding the Akatsuki as soon as Shikamaru and his teammates left to find Gai. Asuma was already up to date with the information, but most of the members of the Naruto Retrieval Squad were not. Tsunade simply had to trust that the Sarutobi jounin could relay the pertinent data to the others, before they came across something they shouldn't have.

Regardless, Sakura had been awestruck at the gang of mercenaries and missing-nin that made up the Akatsuki.

'And _Naruto's in with them.'_

This mission was going to be… _interesting,_ that much was certain.

Snapping out of her stupor, she blinked a few time to reorient herself. It seemed like Kakashi had taken heed of Sakura's inner monologue, and left to keep watch. Lee was back out in the woods, practicing taijutsu moves in the woods, _quietly_. That alone made Sakura gasp in surprise.

Otherwise, she was all alone. Neji was using his Byakugan to keep watch over the Mask Hall, while the strange-masked ANBU had simply melted off into the forest to do reconnaissance. Shikamaru's father was in his tent, a few feet away, but he was scouring over the rest of the Akatsuki files – the ones they didn't have time to finish looking over before being deployed – in order to formulate as many backup plans as possible. Sakura had to admit, now she knew where the Nara boy had gotten his intellect. It was… uncanny at times.

She took a deep breath and stretched a bit. She would be relieving Neji in a little under an hour. ' _Might as well get back to it, then,'_ she yawned, before dipping her hand into her pocket to retrieve the nearly-complete sphere of rock she was working on before.

She frowned in confusion when she felt it, but pulled it out nonetheless. When it was finally in her hand, she realized it was Kakashi's rock from before.

So that meant….

Sakura clenched her fist in annoyance, causing the pebble to disintegrate into a fine dust.

So he _hadn't_ known what she was talking about, swapped the two pebbles when she was trying to show him how to do it, and was only leading her on to try and 'teach her a lesson'.

"Kakashi!"

* * *

"B-but you're dead!"

Gaara lumbered across the Hokage's office, before throwing himself down into one of Tsunade's chairs gingerly, in front of her fragmented desk.

After a few moments of silence wherein Tsunade simply stared at the Kazekage with her mouth agape, she finally turned to look up at the visage of a very pale Shizune standing behind him, ready to be sent out on a moment's notice.

After looking at Shizune for a few moments, Tsunade blinked, a strange expression of shock, curiosity, and confusion etched across her disheveled face. Then, she ran a hand up through her hair, sighing slightly as she did so.

"Is this another absinthe nightmare?" she mumbled to no one in particular. At first, she thought that she had spoken quiet enough as to where no one had heard her, but much to her annoyance, the auburn-haired teen in front of her had.

"I assure you, Lady Tsunade…" he stopped for a moment, grimacing at some unknown pain, before continuing, "…that I am very much real. And as far as my mortality…" another pause, in which he looked up at Tsunade, right in the eyes, "…I technically _was_ dead."

"And will be again soon enough if we don't get you to the hospital!" urged Shizune from behind him, obviously concerned for Gaara's wellbeing. Tsunade could understand – she was the girl's teacher, after all. One of the first lessons she instilled on her fledgling medic-nin back at the very beginning, when she could barely mold her chakra, was that human life was first, village was second. Not even as Hokage did Tsunade stray from that gospel.

"Relax, Shizune, both of us are perfectly capable medical ninja," Tsunade drawled, rubbing her head with the palms of her hands. "Granted, not good enough to subdue the beginnings of a rather _nasty_ hangover," she added under her breath.

No one heard her that time – or, at least, nobody indicated that they had. It was all the same to Tsunade.

The alcohol-inhibited, thought-processing part of Tsunade's brain suddenly clicked into gear, and her eyes shot open at what the formerly-late Kazekage had stated moments ago.

"Wait… did you seriously just say that you _were_ dead?" Tsunade said skeptically, still nursing her throbbing temples.

"Yes," Gaara responded plainly.

After a few moments of silence, Tsunade sweatdropped. "Would you mind elaborating?"

Gaara stared at her unflinchingly, before nodding once. "The Akatsuki captured me from my village a week ago. After defeating me, they took my unconscious body to one of their outposts, where they removed my tailed beast. I may be alive, but I am no longer who I used to be."

"A jinchuuriki?" Tsunade said bluntly, smashing through the elephant in the room like a bloodthirsty poacher. "From what I've seen and heard, I personally think you're better off now than before."

"That may be true on a personal level," Gaara began, before breaking in to a fit of coughing that rattled his weak and brittle frame. After waving off Shizune's fervent attempts to check up on him, he continued. "However, I no longer possess the power or energy required to defend-"

His eyes widened considerably for a moment, and he froze mid-sentence. Something must have scattered his thoughts, that much was certain. But Tsunade was unsure as to what. It was obvious that the man had been effectively rattled from the whole 'rebirth' thing.

Not sensing an end to his abrupt silence, Tsunade took the initiative. "Jinchuuriki are not weapons," she stated, with a little bit of power behind her voice. Naruto may be off doing whatever it was he was doing, but she would _still_ defend his name, implicit as the current circumstances may have been. "I'm sure you'll be the first to agree. They're people, like you, like Shizune…" the kunoichi nodded in agreement, "…like me."

"You are right," Gaara said, breaking out of his trance, "I do agree with you. Wholeheartedly, in fact. But one cannot overlook the significant power and influence a jinchuuriki can hold if in the right position."

"Of course. You are testament to that. Same as with the Mizukage."

"And Naruto." It appeared that Gaara was also not a fan of elephants.

Tsunade couldn't help but grimace at this. "Yes. And Naruto."

After another few moments of somewhat uncomfortable silence, Tsunade sat up straight in her chair. "Right! Where are my manners. Lord Kazekage…" Tsunade raised a bottle in a toast, before pulling out two saucers from one of the dilapidated drawers in her desk, "welcome back to the Hidden Leaf. Can I offer you a drink?"

Surprisingly, Gaara nodded. Tsunade had to admit, she usually asked the question in jest, in order to lighten the mood surrounding her - she had to face it eventually - _massive_ drinking problem. With a shrug, she filled the two saucers with what was left of her sake bottle, setting the rest of it aside.

"To peace," she said emotionlessly, before knocking the saucer back. Gaara did the same, not even grimacing at the intensity of the liquor. After a moment of staring at her empty shotglass, Tsunade frowned and set it aside, opting to drink directly from the bottle.

"Lady Tsunade!" came the exasperated cry from her assistant, as the Hokage plowed her way through yet _another_ bottle of rotgut. "You can't drink on the job!"

"Relax, Shizune," she said, words already beginning to slur ever so slightly. She must have been drinking quite a bit beforehand, if her current state was any indication. "This is a diplomatic meeting. It's customary for the members to toast ceremoniously beforehand."

Shizune sweatdropped, shaking her head. "Yes, a _toast._ Not a _drinking contest._ "

"Is that snark I'm sensing, Shizune?" Tsunade said with a raised eyebrow, hand still wrapped around the alcohol bottle like a baby.

"No, no," she said placatingly, before turning on her heels and walking towards the door. "Just so you know, if any of the councilmembers come in here and see you like this, I'm not bailing you out this time."

 _Click._

And with that, Shizune left the room.

"What does she mean _this time_ ," Tsunade grumbled, before paling. "Oh, shit. The council meeting. It's in fifteen minutes."

With one swift motion, Tsunade slapped a stopper on the top of the sake bottle, stashing it away in her desk somewhere. Another moment later, she stood up, walking around a little bit, trying to get the blood flowing better to her brain, so she could think properly in the coming hour.

Then, she stopped, suddenly realizing that she wasn't alone.

The sad, hollow green eyes of her Sand counterpart followed her movement absentmindedly, before shooting open in confusion when he felt a warm tingling sensation permeating from his back.

"Here," Tsunade said kindly, as she urged the green flow of chakra to dance from her fingertips to soothe Gaara's extensive internal injury. Then, she frowned in shock. "Damn, Shizune was right. You _really_ need to keep an eye out for yourself, Lord Kazekage."

"Under the circumstances, I felt as though speaking with you held more precedence."

Tsunade slowly stopped healing Gaara, before turning around him and setting herself back into her chair with a surprising air of prestige. "I patched you up for now. You'll still need to go to the hospital once this is all over with."

A small, unconcerned nod was her response, which Tsunade took in kind. "Alright then."

Another few heartbeats of somewhat tense silence riddled the gloomy, moonlit office, as Gaara continued to stare off into space.

Then, suddenly, he shifted in his seat, sitting up slightly and locking eyes with Tsunade, obviously set in whatever plan he had made in the quiet prior.

"Lady Hokage," he began formally. "As Fifth Kazekage of the Village Hidden in the Sand, the Hidden Village protectorate for the Land of Wind, I am hereby declaring war on the Hidden Leaf."

Tsunade jumped, eyes widening in shock. "What? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Next," he continued without concern for the look of terror in her eyes. "As Fifth Kazekage of the Village Hidden in the Sand, of the Land of Wind, I hereby authorize a complete and unconditional surrender to the forces of the Leaf effective immediately. I accept whatever terms you wish to submit to us, on the one condition that they are not any less harsh than complete annexation of Wind Country and its assets."

Tsunade continued gaping like a fish. "Are… are you…"

"Serious?" Gaara finished with a dry voice. "Completely and absolutely. Lady Tsunade," he leaned forward slightly in his chair, and the depths of despair visible in his eyes returned with renewed vigor. "The Village Hidden in the Sand is gone. It was destroyed two days ago by a civil dispute that grew due to my capture and defeat by the hands of the Akatsuki."

With a pained cough, he looked down at her desk in a small sign of submission – or a sign of internal conflict. Tsunade couldn't tell which was which anymore; her mind was still trying to process what the Kazekage had just told her.

"Tsunade," Gaara said, shockingly without honorifics. "The Land of Wind, and what is left of her capital's people, are in dire need for leadership at this time. It has come to my attention that no one, not even myself, is fit to lead it internally. Therefore, it is in my best judgment to pass it off to you."

He reached under his robes, and pulled out a large, rectangular hat. It was once white, but Tsunade could see traces of emerald green poking out from underneath the grime on the tattered and tarnished fabric.

He narrowed his eyes at her as he set the hat on the table. "This is yours now."

"Umm…" she said, not entirely sure that this was actually happening. "You mean…"

"Yes," Gaara completed.

"Well, this complicates things…" Tsunade grumbled. Gaara only lifted a non-existent eyebrow in confusion.

Seeing his lack of understanding, Tsunade sighed and shook her head, resting her forehead on her hands, which were now perched atop her desk. For what seemed like the thousandth time that day, she launched into her commentary explaining the circumstances in the Hidden Cloud.

"As of earlier this week, we have it on good authority that a still-officially-undetermined assailant infiltrated and destroyed the Village Hidden in the Clouds." She said plainly, not bothering to look up to visibly digest his reaction. She emphasized the "still-officially-undetermined" part, although she assumed that Gaara had a pretty decent idea who was to blame.

A few more moments of silence echoed throughout the Hokage's office. Then, the hoarse voice of Gaara broke it unconditionally.

"I see."

At this, Tsunade _did_ look up, only to see he was merrily staring off into space at the floor below him, pondering something heavily.

More silence.

Tsunade sighed, and began to move through the motions of lifting herself up and off of her chair.

She was interrupted by Gaara's voice once again.

"My unconditional surrender," he began, "was not the only reason I came here, Lady Hokage."

Tsunade blinked, and stopped, allowing gravity to bring her back into a comfortable seating position. If it was more important than the Sand's destruction and subsequent annexation of Wind, then it had to be good.

"As I'm sure you're aware, Naruto was a member of the pair of Akatsuki shinobi who captured me," he stated plainly, not bothering to wait for her reaction, which was indifference, as he expected. "However, there is more to that than I have let on, even with my siblings."

A raised eyebrow was the response from the Hokage, and Gaara paused only for a moment, before continuing. "He attacked me in my office while I was working and took me away from there, that much is well known."

He narrowed his eyes again and leaned forward in his chair again, this time with a much more authoritative aura about him.

"What nobody else knows, nobody but me, is that Naruto visited me first, to talk."

* * *

Two weeks.

It had been two weeks since they had originally set up shop at the strange Uzumaki building, and in that time they had receive nothing by way of communication, notice, or order from the Hokage. It was… strange, to say the least, but Sakura had full trust in both her sensei and mentor's ability to handle the situation. It was all in good hands, no doubt about that.

Still, it was unnerving that Gai still hadn't shown up. He was only supposed to be missing from their mission on his own for a day or so, but that day had stretched into two.

Then three.

Then six.

Then sixteen.

Sakura didn't say anything, but she could feel the anxiety and tenseness coming off of Kakashi, even if he attempted to hide it, like he did most every other genuine feeling he felt. She hypothesized, with a great deal of medical knowledge to back her up, that this was in no way good for the man psychologically, but Sakura was almost one hundred percent sure he knew that, and just didn't care. He was a widely respected ninja, and respect didn't come without a heavy price.

Unfortunately for most shinobi, that price was usually their sanity.

And Kakashi was a ticking time bomb.

Sakura sighed, rubbing her (rather large) forehead with a yawn. She had been on watch for hours now. It was almost time for Neji to relieve her, much to her absolute pleasure. Sitting completely still in a tree for half the day was damn near exhausting. It was times like these that she missed having someone who could abuse the Shadow Clone Jutsu with her.

' _No!'_ Sakura said, a knot of anxiety bubbling to the surface inside of her stomach. ' _I can't think about that. Think about the fact that soon enough, he'll actually be here.'_

She blinked, slinking back into the large green tree she was perched upon unconsciously. ' _It's bad enough we're here, but even worse that we have no idea when he's coming. It could be days, it could be weeks…'_

She groaned.

It could be months.

Suddenly, a gentle hand rested across her shoulder, causing her to jump and tense away subconsciously.

Much to her rejoicing, it was merrily Neji.

"Sakura," he nodded at her respectfully. "Kakashi-sensei has instructed me to inform you that your time is up. He requests that you return to the campsite in order to get some rest. We will be having another team meeting at oh-six-hundred hours tomorrow morning."

It was the same standard thoroughfare, the same monotone drab, the same scripted line of words that she had heard for two weeks prior. She was falling into a rut, really, which simply was not a good thing considering the fact that three quarters of their mission called for them to be on their A-game for their entire time in the woods.

Regardless, she took it in stride, and began to stand from her position on the massive tree limb, while Neji essentially ignored her like he always did, opting instead to begin his shift then and there. With his Byakugan active, the time for talk had long expired.

With a shrug, she sent a passing glance back at the Hyuuga jounin, before jumping down from her position and lumbering back through the woods with only a vague idea of where she was going. Their campsite, after all, was meant to be completely hidden from outside view, for whenever Naruto finally did show up.

It was times like these that made Sakura wonder where the hell the other two jounin – as well as the ANBU – disappeared to. It almost made her feel like their efforts were completely inconsequential, because if she were a betting woman (which she wasn't – no one could possibly be, after interacting with Tsunade for more than a moment or two), she would wager that Kakashi and Shikaku were staked out somewhere nearby, keeping constant watch over the forest themselves.

They were redundant, essentially.

With a yawn, Sakura noticed the large, burnt stump from where a tree had burned to the ground after being struck by lightning. She was close – that much was certain. This was the marker she had mentally placed to be nearby their campsite. Granted, she was aware of the dangers of doing something like that – she could easily get turned around without some sort of detached, heavenly anchor point – such as the sun or the moon.

But she had been navigating this forest for over two weeks straight, so Sakura had a pretty decent idea as to how to get around in it now.

Hell, she could probably run through it at break-neck speed, blindfolded, without use of her arms at this point.

Hoping to never have to prove her assertion, she peeled her eyes for the small flicker of air in front of a large willow tree. Sure enough, there it was. Without knowing what one was looking for, one could conceivably pass right through the genjutsu casting point – the point that signaled the door to their campsite.

The skill of her sensei, and his jack-of-all-trades approach to being a ninja, never ceased to amaze her.

With another small yawn, she made a half-ram seal with her right hand, and a small black door appeared before her. She shuddered as she passed the aperture into their reclusive little nook in the forest, but it was quickly suppressed by the thought of her warm cot and a nice long nap.

Sakura trudged along, not sensing any of her comrades nearby.

' _Huh, that's funny. Oh well, guess they're off doing their jobs then.'_ It wasn't inconceivable that they would all be gone from their base of operations at one time – hell, it had actually happened a few times already.

She threw back the flap to her decent-sized extended-stay tent, rubbing her eye with her free hand as she did so.

"Hey, Sakura."

She froze.

With a blink, she looked at her balled fist confusingly, as she pulled it away from her eye in sleepy lack of understanding.

' _Did I just hear…?'_

Her eyes shot open, any semblance of sleepiness driven from her system by a burst of adrenaline that accelerated her heart to damn near a million miles per hour.

With a shuddered cringe, she turned her head to the right and up a bit, where her cot laid in her tent.

A black cloak was draped across the makeshift bed haphazardly, obviously not considered in the slightest by the figure it was stretched around.

Two long-socked legs, with the white fabric wrapped under and around the heel of pure black shinobi sandals, were crossed in relaxation at the base.

She was honestly too scared to move her eyes up further, but they moved on their own accord.

Red clouds.

Black nail polish.

Two arms, also shrouded by the long billowing arms of the cloak, were tucked snugly behind the neck of…

Sakura gasped a little in fear when the gravity of the situation crashed down onto her like a wave.

Naruto.

He was just as she remembered seeing him from before…

…whiskered cheeks, sitting across a pale and deathlike face.

…orange hair, splotchy and disheveled, haphazardly thrown across his skull without too much care one way or another.

…a row of strange piercings that ran across his forehead, near his hairline.

And then, after a moment of silence, two eyelids slid open, revealing a pair of vibrant red, deadly-looking vulpine eyes.

To her surprise, however, he wasn't scowling, or seething, or going on like someone twice his age.

Instead, he was sporting a healthy grin, as he spun his right calve over his left knee in silent amusement. He looked just as chipper and blithe as she always remembered him, if she was honest with herself.

Then, he spoke again.

"It's been a while, eh, Sakura?" he asked with a cheeky grin.


	16. Notice of Rewrite!

_*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*_

* * *

 _ **Kyuubi:**_

 **Notice of Rewrite!**

* * *

Hey, all! Long time no see, eh?

This is just a friendly notice that I have finally ( _finally)_ finished work on the first chapter of the complete rewrite! It's called "Of Crimson and Shadows", and I've spent so much time planning it out and making sure it's a decent enough story without any plot holes that I honestly was expecting it to sit in limbo for the rest of all eternity.

Now, I'm sure some (at the very least, _one_ ) of you are sad that this isn't a proper chapter update... and for that, I really am sorry. But it's my goal to surpass this story by miles and miles, knowing what I know now, so that you can read the "Kyuubi" I wanted to write in the first place. It's got darkness, it's got death, it's got some pretty brutal psychological bits; everything I wanted to do for this story but just couldn't.

Please, if you still have ANY INTEREST WHATSOEVER in this story or where I was planning on taking it, check out "Of Crimson and Shadows". It's different enough to where it reads like a new story, but there are still quite a few facets of the story that hail directly from this one. It's a rewrite, so things'll be different (by definition), but if you liked this story at all, you'll enjoy it. (At least, that's the goal!)

Here's the summary for "Of Crimson and Shadows", for your viewing pleasure!

* * *

Despised as a demon, Naruto Uzumaki held his head high, powering through the dark days and looking towards the light of the future. He would prove everyone wrong. Or so he thought. Now, he's the monster everyone believed him to be. And you know what? He doesn't give a damn.

* * *

Now, since I'm going to be working on that fic instead of this one, I AM going to be discontinuing this story indefinitely. I will, however, be leaving it up for all to read, because I'm going to treat my fanfiction page as a mausoleum of my writing - for better or for worse. So don't worry about this fic going away. ;)

I hope you'll check out the new story! It's on my profile page, just like the rest of my work.

Thank you all for reading,  
-Endo


End file.
